Amazon, the owner of Whole Foods since 2017, is changing the organic grocery store by adding not-so-organic products to its lineup.
The trick is that Amazon is keeping Whole Foods the same, per se, but offering customers a way to bypass the organic grocer’s regular product lineup and access “unconventional” (per Whole Foods’ regards) goods.
“In one Philadelphia-area store, if customers crave something they can’t find, they can order it on the Amazon app, and a team of backroom robots will get it to them,” according to The Wall Street Journal.
In one Chicago store, the “coffee shop and seating area were replaced by an ‘Amazon Grocery’ kiosk reminiscent of a convenience store.”
According to Fortune magazine, Amazon is basically “experimenting with ways to introduce mass-market brands” to Whole Foods, which has for years been known for offering alternates to mass-market brands.
A lot of people are unhappy with Amazon now controlling Whole Foods and implementing these unsavory changes:
Amazon ruined Whole Foods.
— Buzz Patterson (@BuzzPatterson) September 1, 2025
People don’t go to Whole Foods for Dortios. Dumb decision.
— Jerry Mandering (@AlanPurplespan) November 2, 2025
Amazon has ruined Whole Foods.
Almost all foods sold there now are Amazon’s generic brand 365.
— WilliamNextLvl (@WilliamNextLev1) November 2, 2025
Amazon changed some products to use ingredients that are cheaper. I know this because I am allergic to cornmeal and cornstarch and it now seems it’s in everything. Big Corn has had an impact
— libraryfemme (@libraryfemme) September 1, 2025
before Amazon bought Whole Foods, the qualify of all the produce was so much better and the buffets were excellent. Now the produce is shit, the buffet’s food is inedible, looks like shit and is poor qualify and the store is staffed with woke people that hate life
— Frenchlover12 (@Darknightf12) September 1, 2025
The Journal notes that the latest switch in strategy is particularly notable.
“Amazon brought price cuts and new technology to Whole Foods following [its purchase of the chain in 2017], but left its corporate identity intact. That’s changing,” according to the paper.
It’s changing bigtime.
“Amazon handed Whole Foods Chief Executive Jason Buechel responsibility over its entire grocery operation earlier this year, including its Amazon Fresh markets and Amazon Go cashierless convenience stores,” the Journal notes.
Meanwhile, Whole Foods’ corporate staff have been transitioned into Amazon employees. Store workers still remain employed directly by Whole Foods.
Unfortunately, this transition coincides with mass layoffs for Amazon.
“Last week, Amazon became the latest company to announce massive layoffs,” Fast Company reported on Monday. “In a memo, senior vice president of people experience and technology, Beth Galetti, revealed that the company would let go of ‘approximately 14,000’ employees, citing AI innovations and a fast-changing world.”
More layoffs are expected within the next couple of months:
The only thing getting delivered in January is layoffs. Rumors of another round of layoffs in @amazon pic.twitter.com/kBJcpBMs7t
— Blind (@JoinBlind) November 4, 2025
Part of the reason for this transition is because Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods didn’t turn it into the major supermarket player that it’d hoped to be.
Since it purchased Whole Foods in 2017, “Amazon’s market share in the grocery industry hasn’t gone above 4%,” according to the Journal.
Not every expert thinks what Amazon is doing is such a great idea.
“Whole Foods has great brand equity,” Once Upon a Farm CEO John Foraker said. “It’s been built up over decades. If they were asking me, I’d say, ‘Be super, super careful.'”
“People are very aware of the Amazonification at Whole Foods,” Whole Foods employee Ben Lovett added. “It’s become numbers-based. Amazon has immense turnover. It seems to be part of their business strategy.”
But there are supporters as well.
“On a visit to [a] Chicago [Whole Foods] store, Virginia Lee, a food-industry market researcher, watched customers descend the Whole Foods escalator, grabbing a Red Bull at Amazon Grocery on their way out,” according to the Journal. “She thought it seemed like a smart business decision.”
“Why let all those food dollars go out the door?” she asked. “We already have these people in the building. Let’s try to grab the dollars for these less healthy purchases.”
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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