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Amazon now officially owns Whole Foods — and the grocery chain is already transforming.
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On Monday, Amazon's $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods formally went through.
It was immediately clear that this wasn't a gradual transfer of power or slow evolution. Instead, Whole Foods slashed prices overnight. The price of grass-fed ground beef dropped to $6.99 a pound from $10.99, and bananas went from $0.79 to $0.49.
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Amazon and Whole Foods announced on Thursday their plans to cut prices but didn't get into the nitty gritty of how the experience of shopping at the grocery chain would change.
So on Monday, Business Insider visited a Whole Foods in Brooklyn, New York, to see how Amazon's acquisition was immediately affecting the grocery chain.
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The Whole Foods location, which opened in 2013, looked unchanged when I showed up at 7:59 a.m., before its 8 a.m. opening.
However, the moment I entered the store, it was clear that Amazon had taken over.
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Nestled next to the local veggies was a "pick of the season" of a different kind: the Amazon Echo and Echo Dot. According to Amazon, the popular voice-controlled speaker system will be available at select Whole Foods locations.
Amazon's logo wasn't limited to the Echo.
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Every item that had its price slashed on Monday was accompanied by a sign with the tag "Whole Foods + Amazon."
It seemed as though the signs were everywhere. The entire leafy-greens shelf was covered in orange tags, and "low prices, great quality" signs hung from the ceiling throughout the store.
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Amazon isn't solely responsible for Whole Foods' game plan to win over budget shoppers. The grocery chain has been trying to ditch its expensive "whole paycheck" reputation for a while.
Last year, for example, Whole Foods began stamping paper shopping bags with the tagline "great everyday low prices" — a slogan that seems to draw some inspiration from Walmart's "everyday low prices" motto.
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However, post-acquisition, Whole Foods is putting budget shoppers front and center. It's also putting Amazon in the spotlight — both in its signage and through products like the Echo.
Whole Food stores across the country seem to be experiencing similar mini transformations. A location in the Los Angeles area apparently molded an Amazon "A" out of ground beef.
A post shared by Joe Despres (@joedespres) on Aug 28, 2017 at 11:24am PDT
Whole Foods hasn't done much to advertise the acquisition — it had zero posts on Monday on Facebook and Twitter about the price cuts. And Amazon has emphasized that Whole Foods' cofounder John Mackey will stay on as CEO. However, starting Monday, Whole Foods customers will realize the retailer won't ever be the same.
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