Whole Foods Market has reported that its UK-based Fresh & Wild arm slipped to a loss of £35.9m (€42.2m) last year, as it battled established supermarket chains through the global economic crisis.
The group said that it's full-year results were hit by an impairment charge on stores and related administrative support assets, although the group said in a statement that the charge was an accounting measure that did not reflect the progress the group had made in the UK.
According to a report in The Independent, the organic and natural food retailer has suffered from low customer traffic at its flagship 80,000m2 Kensington, London store in particular, with consumers moving away from higher-priced organic food and switching to low-priced private label brands during the economic crisis.
'Whole Foods Market has been making changes and improvements to the Kensington store, and we have been pleased with the positive reactions we have been receiving from our customers,' said the group's Jeff Turnas. 'We plan to continue to make these types of changes at our UK stores as well as continue to aggressively look for additional store sites in London.'
Meanwhile, Whole Foods announced total group sales (including US, Canada and the UK) of US$1.9m (€1.3bn) for the third quarter ended 5 July 2009, an increase of 2 per cent, with income from operations up 23 per cent to US$78.9m (€54.8m).
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