It is a big day for shoppers in central Phoenix, with the grand opening of a new Whole Foods Market near 20th Street and Highland Avenue. The 35,000 square foot store will sell natural and organic foods and jump into the ultra-competitive grocery battle in the Valley. A Trader Joe's shares the same Town and Country plaza. A Fry's and an Albertson's are less than one mile away, while a Safeway is just a couple of miles to the east.
So what will Whole Foods have to do to excel? Burt Flickinger III is the managing director of Strategic Resource Group and a national expert on the supermarket industry.
Whole Foods' grand opening has been receiving a lot of attention. The Arizona Republic recently featured an extensive article on the impact the store is expected to have on the nearby community and neighborhood. One interviewee talked about how it may revive the Town and Country Shopping Center.
So how does a newspaper decide what is news and what is more of an advertisement for a store? Prof. Tim McGuire is the Frank Russell Chair for the business of journalism at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School. He is also former editor of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.