Amazon buying Whole Foods in bold move into brick and mortar
NEW YORK — Amazon is buying Whole Foods in a deal valued at about $13.7 billion, a stunning move into brick-and-mortar retail that sets the stage for more radical store experimentation and intensified competition with grocery rivals.
The deal unites the online juggernaut with the grocery store chain that fell behind as the organic and natural foods it helped popularize expanded to more locations and shoppers found “good enough” alternatives.
Amazon already offers grocery-delivery services in five markets, but the Whole Foods purchase would let it expand to many more. Amazon also offers grocery shipments elsewhere, but that’s tough with perishable foods.
The deal has the possibility to be “transformative,” Moody’s lead retail analyst Charlie O’Shea said in a note, “not just for food retail, but for retail in general.”