[genocidicbunny]

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.