WHOLE FOODS MARKET OFFERS NATURAL SAVINGS IN COUPON BOOK

RICHARD TURCSIK

AUSTIN, Texas -- Whole Foods Market here has teamed with its vendors to offer customers a coupon book that features savings on dozens of natural and organic items, including several Center Store products.

The 1998 Whole Foods Healthy Savings Book! contains more than two dozen coupons offering more than $15 in savings. The coupon book was delivered via direct mail to customers of the company's Fresh Fields division in the Northeast. In addition to Whole Foods and Fresh Fields stores, the coupons are also valid at the company's Bread & Circus stores in New England.

"Buying natural foods is more than just a diet choice; it's a lifestyle choice," reads the copy inside the coupon book.

Copy goes on to say that coupons for natural and organic products are hard to come by, which is why Whole Foods teamed up with manufacturers to create the savings book. The backs of the coupons give highlights about the products and tell what makes them different from their mainstream counterparts.

Center Store products that have coupons include Poland Spring water, Terra chips, Health Valley canned soup, Westbrae Natural non-dairy beverages and organic canned beans, After the Fall juice, Reed's ginger beer, Hain soups and popcorn cakes and Arrowhead Mills bite size shredded wheat.

All of the coupons have a Dec. 31 expiration date.

Citing corporate policy, officials at Whole Foods declined comment. However, one store-level source said that the savings book marks the first time coupons have been mailed to customers' homes.