Amazon.com jolted the grocery industry Friday when it announced plans to buy Whole Foods Market, introducing new uncertainty to a sector already struggling to keep up with growing competition.
The $13.7 billion deal heightens a years-long battle between Amazon, the Internet darling, and powerhouse merchants such as Walmart, which recently beefed up its online operations with a $3.3 billion purchase of an Amazon competitor.
Now Seattle-based Amazon — which for years has been testing grocery innovations in quiet corners — could lay claim to a fleet of more than 460 stores throughout the United States, Canada and Britain.
Latest from Garden Center
- From drab to fab: How garden centers can sell more drought tolerant plants
- Online registration opens for 2025 Farwest Show
- Retail Revival: Cultivating sustainability at independent garden centers
- Rhododendron renaissance: Holden Forests & Gardens using research to improve commercial plants
- Boxed in: 2025 Axiom Gardening Outlook Study explores big box vs IGCs
- The Growth Industry Episode 3: Across the Pond with Neville Stein
- Trends: Proven Winners 2025 perennial survey shows strong demand
- Sustainabloom launches Wholesale Nickel Program to support floriculture sustainability
