I've been tracking my wholefoods purchases for the last year or so. Just ran my first report and was surprised to see prices have been oddly consistent throughout the year
Since you're aware of the inflation, you might be subconsciously substituting more affordable products, or your particular basket of goods hasn't experienced as much compared to the indexed basket, or both.
Interesting, whole foods has a repurchase feature on amazon's website that shows previous purchase price so looking at some items for me (previous on 3/29):
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365 by Whole Foods Market, Almonds Sliced, 8 Ounce
Qty:1
$4.99 ($0.62/Ounce)
Previous price: $5.29
365 by Whole Foods Market, Artichoke Hearts, 14.1 Ounce
Qty:2
$2.49 ($0.18/Ounce)
Previous price: $2.24
365 by Whole Foods Market, Oil Olive Extra Virgin Mediterranean Blend, 33.8 Fl Oz
That is probably because almost everything in Whole Foods is grossly inflated in the first place. Source: I used to work from them when I was in my late teens/early 20s.
We were instructed to inform customers that are pricers are higher because we are a smaller operation than competitors like Wal-Mart and other large changes, thus Whole Foods had to pay more that the other vendors for many of the same products.
The systems we used left me inclined to believe that the story we were instructed to explain, if true was... not the full picture to say the least.
However, this was years before Amazon even thought about taking over, so I cannot comment on how things are since the acquisition.
Considering that places like Trader Joes were at the same time as pre-Amazon whole foods, selling a lot of similar goods much cheaper, I'm inclined to believe that Whole Foods has almost always been more expensive than it could have been. But back in those days, the higher prices also got you stuff that you would be hard pressed to find anywhere else, and the employees were paid much better than most other retail. Post-Amazon, it feels like the high prices are just because.
