The thing that I can appreciate about Whole Foods is that they have acknowledged that there is room for improvement, they listen to feedback and then you can actually see the company trying to implement changes. Now, I'm sure that there could be an argument as to how sincere are these changes (superficial vs. authentic), but I have seen changes nonetheless.

I definitely have not seen many other big companies (Think: WalMart) respond to constructive criticism in such a positive way. What you often see are things like denials or no comment followed by no change whatsoever.

So, my feeling is not that Whole Foods is perfect, and it is definitely preferable to shop at locally owned and operated non-chain stores for a number of reasons. However, I do not think that they should be lumped in with the worst of the worst -- not by a long shot.

-Karen