Whole Foods Purchased By Amazon

METRO DETROIT, MI — Amazon is buying struggling organic grocery chain Whole Foods Market - which has seven metropolitan Detroit locations - in a deal that is expected to be completed later this year for some $13.7 billion. Earlier this year, the Texas-based grocer was the subject of takeover rumors by Albertsons.

Whole Foods, which bills itself as the “clean food” grocer, has seen its shares fall some 45 percent since October 2013, according to a Fortune.com report. Whole Foods’ Michigan locations include two in Ann Arbor, with other stores in Detroit, West Bloomfield, Rochester Hills, East Lansing and Troy. The Austin, Texas-based company has 365 stores nationwide.

Whole Foods will continue to operate under its name, the Detroit News reported. Meanwhile, for Amazon, the move is seen as expanding its growing reach into grocery industry. The company already offers home delivery on many grocery items.

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Whole Foods’ sales have fallen in the face of competition from organic grocers such as Sprouts Farmers Market and Natural Grocers and traditional grocers including Walmart and Kroger, which are increasingly moving on Whole Foods’ turf with their own organic offerings, MySanAntonio reported.

The Austin company has suffered six quarters of falling same-store sales, a key measure in retail performance, and announced plans in February to close nine stores, the news outlet reported. Amazon, which also operates the grocery operation Fresh, considered buying Whole Foods last year but never made a bid, MySanAntonio reported.

Photo by Joe Raedle / Staff / Getty Images News / Getty Images