Trader Joe's eyeing Portland
Trader Joe's, a California-based grocery store chain, has made an offer to buy the former Wild Oats store in Portland.
The company has filed documents with the Federal Trade Commission to buy the Marginal Way property, according to the Portland Press Herald. The property was home to a Wild Oats Market Inc. store until 2007, when Whole Foods Market Inc. bought the rival chain for $565 million, a deal the FTC said would create a natural-food monopoly. As part of a settlement it reached last year with the FTC, Whole Foods agreed to sell the leases and assets of the 19 Wild Oats stores it closed, including the Portland location. A third-party trustee appointed by the FTC has recommended commissioners allow Trader Joe's to buy the Portland location, less than a third of a mile from Whole Food's store in the Bayside neighborhood, according to the paper.
The deal must go through a 30-day public comment period and be approved by the FTC, according to the Press Herald. If the sale goes through, it would be Trader Joe's 25th New England location and its first in Maine.
Go to the story from the Portland Press Herald >>
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