I think this is one of the stupidest things Amazon has ever done. There. I said it.

Whole Foods is contracting. Two years ago they were the company that never closed a store. This quarter they're closing nine and opening six. Sure, that leaves 437 stores... but now they've gotta compete with Sprouts. They've gotta compete with Bristol Farms. Safeway rolled out Pavilions pretty much to capture the upscale market. And all of them charge you less for groceries.

I've been to a 365 or whatever the fuck they call it. It was like an Apple Store that sold shampoo and dog treats. Shitty, shitty shampoo that worked worse than Tresemme and cost more, too. That's an experiment that's gonna go once. And I'd like to say that I've been to the Amazon store but it's like their magic drone delivery - they're testing it only with Amazon employees and have done for a year. It was supposed to open in March. It's June. 'sign up for updates.'

Whole Foods is about ridiculous profit margins. Amazon is about an utter and total lack. Whole Foods is about wasteful, luxurious floor space. Amazon is about latter-day Tom Joads waiting 25 minutes to be searched so they can pick dildos off shelves and put them in boxes for $13.50 an hour. Which Amazon is still paying because that robot right now costs $22 an hour and will cost $20 an hour in 2020.

Some of us remember Homegrocer.com. Some of us have interacted with Hello Fresh, Amazon Fresh and Blue Apron. And there is no part of that - none - that requires storefronts.

I had dinner with a COO of a publicly-traded company once. They were big in the MI segment. I asked him "why did you buy (speaker company X)? Why did you buy (DAW company Y)? They have nothing to do with your core competencies." He rolled his eyes and said "Sometimes when we're lonely and sad we go shopping and bring home impulse buys." He left the company six months later, and the publicly-traded company sold one of their purchases back to the original owners and dissolved the other. They were dumb purchases. But it allowed the company to look like it was innovating into new business segments.

Amazon and Whole Foods have fuckall to do with each other and both of 'em are about to get squeezed. There will come a time where people realize that Amazon isn't worth a thousand dollars a share (199:1 P/E ratio!) or that Sahale Snacks aren't worth $7 an ounce and that time is soon.