I used to live halfway between Western Beef and Whole Foods. Whole Foods was crazy expensive with great quality, and Western Beef had awful quality but great prices. (We used to joke "You can't leave Whole Foods without spending $100 no matter how little you try to buy. You can't leave Western Beef spending more than $40 no matter how hard you try."

Now that I'm out West, I've seen the middle take over. Safeway has closed much of the quality gap, with much better prices. The top of the market can't grow forever. There's a reason they call it "Whole Paycheck." It's also an incomplete store. If I need to go to Safeway for shampoo anyways, I might as well buy my organic FancyPantsStuff there too if it's cheaper that Whole Foods.