Whole Foods Wild About Harry's

Whole Foods Market, Inc. (Austin, Texas) announced signing a definitive agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of Harry's Farmers Market, Inc., an Atlanta-area grocery and produce institution, for approximately $35 million in cash.

The deal involves only the three Harry's Farmers Market perishable superstores, in Alpharetta, Ga., and Gwinnett and Cobb counties. The revenues of these stores, for the year ended Jan. 31, 2001, was approximately $100 million.

The assets to be purchased include real estate, the Harry's Farmers Market name, distribution center, commissary kitchen, bakehouse and office facilities. Excluded are the six smaller-format Harry's-in-a-Hurry food stores. The transaction is expected to close in November.

“The most important and successful acquisitions that we have made, such as Bread & Circus, Mrs. Gooch's and Fresh Fields, have provided us with intellectual capital as well as given us a platform for expansion in key geographic areas,” said John Mackey, chairman and ceo of Whole Foods Market. “We believe the Harry's acquisition is potentially as significant, due to their knowledge and expertise in operating perishable superstores that we will be able to leverage across the company, in addition to the regional support infrastructure that we will acquire in Atlanta.”

Whole Foods Market, founded in 1980 in Austin, has become the world's largest natural and organic supermarket. In fiscal year 2000, the company had sales of $1.8 billion and currently operates 123 stores in the United States.