Whole Foods Demographics

The one thing I've noticed about the shoppers at the organic foods supermarket chain is the huge preponderance of Former Hot Babes. But where are the Current Hot Babes shopping? Do they get invited out to dinners constantly and thus don't need to shop at supermarkets much at all? Do they live on celery, black coffee, and cigarettes? Or can't they afford to shop at Whole Foods because they haven't snagged an affluent husband yet?

A reader responds:

"Trader Joe's seems to have a decent number of Current Hot Babes."

I only shop at Trader Joe's on the rare occasions when I need to pick up some kind of gift food to bring to a party, like an exotic dessert. I guess Current Hot Babes get invited to a lot more parties than I do.

Another reader writes:

Whole Foods definitely markets to people over 35, typically in their 40s & 50s. It's for those who are established and want to show off their status, while trying to mask their snootiness with feel-good flimflam about returning to nature. They're like the people my Italian professor called "gli ex-sessantottini" -- the ex-'68ers.

Trader Joe's markets to younger people, mostly 20-somethings who are part of the iPod group. Their customers don't want to appear snooty, but they still wouldn't condescend to shop with the rubes, so they go to the "alternative" alternative grocery store. Whereas WF names their products to showcase their organicness, naturalness, and purity, TJ names their products to showcase how hip & clever they are (e.g., a fig bar called "this fig walks into a bar..."). Essentially, WF customers broadcast their moral superiority, while the young 'uns at TJ broadcast their hipness quotient superiority. Where the hip lead, Hot Babes are sure to follow.

Or vice-versa. If Hot Babes decided to hang out in working coal mines, coal mines would be hip.

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer