Whole Foods Market announced on Feb. 21 that it would pay $565 million in cash for its biggest competitor, Wild Oats Markets. At the same time, Whole Foods reported its first quarterly profit decline in more than a year and said growth in sales at stores open at least a year slowed to 7% in the fiscal first quarter, which ended Jan. 14, down from 13% a year earlier.
    Whole Foods Chief Executive John Mackey said it would take about two years to integrate the Wild Oats stores. He said the deal would boost his company’s presence in several parts of the country, especially Florida, the Rockies and the Pacific Northwest. An undetermined number of Wild Oats stores will be closed and there will be some corporate layoffs, he said.
    Whole Foods, which had sales of $5.6 billion last year, has 191 stores in the U.S., Canada and Britain, including 20 in Southern California. Wild Oats, with $1.2 billion in sales last year, operates 110 stores in the U.S. and Canada under a variety of names. In Southern California, the company has five Wild Oats locations and 26 Henry’s Farmers Markets.
    The deal, which is contingent on the approval of regulators and Wild Oats shareholders, is expected to close in April.