Brief Note to Wild Oats

It was some time ago that you purchased Nature’s from the local owners. good choice, great job! Nature’s continued to maintain the same level of service and similar pricing to when it was run locally. I remember an evening some years ago, going over my credit card bill and seeing a charge to ‘Wild Oats’. My first thought was that my card number had been stolen and somebody was using it for internet pr0n. I even called the card company. Together we were able to determine that my moolah didn’t go to Nature’s but to Wild Oats. That’s cool. But then you had this stupid ass idea. You needed to call Nature’s Wild Oats. Just to remind everybody who’s in charge. Not to mention the fact that the noncompete the original owners signed had expired and they were busily propelling their latest project, New Seasons, into the local markets. By now I’m sure that you’re feeling the crunch of New seasons. They recently opened a store some ten blocks from you on Division, and when I pass by, it looks packed, and you’re pretty empty. Changing the name was a bad idea. Here in Portland, we’re not just about the organic gourmet ingredients, we also like to support local farms, local people, and local businesses. We believe that it’s one of the things that makes us special. And a drive around other American cities might indicate something along those lines. So you can buy our stores, and run them, and if you do a good job we’ll generally support you, but the name change was a bit of a slap in the face. A wake-up call, perhaps. It’s not that we’re totally against your store. It’s that all things being equal we’re going to drive the extra mile to support the local folks.