I wouldn’t normally find myself at Whole Foods on a Friday, even in the morning, but I think this is going to change. Generally, I avoid shopping on Fridays because its too busy. But I stopped by there this morning after going to the gym to pick up stuff for the weekend, and I was sort of shocked at the volume of samples that were out. Whole Foods always have some samples of course, but this morning (in preparation of the big shopping day), there were just a ton of things: lots of different cheeses, hams, brie, cookies, whole wheat pizza, fig cake, other kinds of cake, etc., etc. It was enough to hold me over until a late lunch.
One of the people I work with at EMU has worked at Whole Foods off and on for a few years now, and I remember asking him about sampling customers one time. “If someone came in and just stood there in front of that big pile of cheese cubes, scarffing them down, wouldn’t they say something?”
No, he said; in fact, there are plenty of people who come into Whole Foods, put a few items in a grocery cart, and then drift around for an hour or more, grazing, eating Australian cheddar or whatever by the handful. I wouldn’t go so far as to go in there, eat, and then leave; but I’ll probably be “dining” there next week.