I was curious, so I just looked it up, and specialty and upscale markets tend to operate on a wider 5% margin vs. the 1-3% margin of more conventional grocery outlets. This also roughly corresponds to how location or specialization increases the margin in the used book market with which I am more familiar.
I actually think this is likely the primary motivation for not doing it. Whole Foods is probably the most generic of the upscale markets near my current location, and these markets often compete on the basis of aesthetics, ambience, and unique product offerings. Their clientele is unconcerned about spending $10.99 on a prepared salad, because they would be as often spending $24 plus gratuity for a similar salad when dining out. And all things considered, their food spending is incidental. They don't want to see a metal rack full of marked down orange sticker clearance items under brutal lighting, like they're pushing a wobbly cart with an anti-theft mechanism through a dingy Sav-A-Lot located next to a CheckNGo. They want a Garden of Eden like experience with lovely scents, greenery, and delightful surprises to be found.There's probably even an issue of appearances. If Joe's Farm Fresh Produce had an appreciable inventory of stuff that is obviously far from fresh (especially as detected by the nose), it would likely undermine the brand reputation Joe was trying to cultivate.
The 75th percentile for net worth age 55+ in the U.S. is over 1 million, and the 90th percentile for net worth over age 55+ is almost 3 million, so more often than not, even the millionaire-next-door-level-frugal men I date are completely happy to hand me their credit card to go pick up something already prepared for dinner from an upscale market, because the fact that I don't demand that they pay (or chip in 50/50) for international travel makes me a relatively cheap date, and the fact that I am actually willing to cook dinner makes me a complete oddity outside of the refugee-from-the-Ukraine cohort of reasonably attractive women around my age. I've really got to work on a way to creatively raise my going rate without simultaneously contributing to the waste stream. Unfortunately, I have little need for emotionally engaged listening or other aspects of feminine energy from my partners. I already tried hitting up the affluent old guys for manual labor with only minimal success. I suppose I could just shop for younger and better looking until I hit the level of drunk midnight text requesting that I pick up and pay for a pizza on way over.
