Whole Foods Market Inc. will close nine existing stores -- including two in Colorado -- and slow its rate of opening new stores as it continues to deal with a sales slump precipitated by increased competition in the organic and natural foods sector and a squeeze on food prices.
The Austin, Texas-based grocery store chain said in its first-quarter earnings report, released Wednesday, that it will close close nine stores in the current quarter while opening six others. Whole Foods (Nasdaq: WFM) said it has 93 stores in development.
The stores that Whole Foods plans to close are in Colorado as well as Georgia, California, Illinois, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona, the Wall Street Journal reports. Mackey said they are mostly older stores that the company acquired, and many are near other Whole Foods locations.
Read more at the Denver Business Journal: http://bit.ly/2lsFZkQ
