PORTLAND (AP) – Two of the nation’s leading natural and organic foods supermarket chains will soon be going head-to-head with stores operating side-by-side.

Whole Foods Co., the nation’s leading natural foods chain, has agreed to buy the Whole Grocer, an independent natural foods store that has operated in the city for 21 years.

With the purchase, Whole Foods will take over the Whole Grocer store – which happens to be next door to a Wild Oats store – until it moves into its new store a few blocks away in 2007.

So for a year or more, a Whole Foods Market and a Wild Oats Natural Marketplace will operate side-by-side, even sharing the same parking lot.

Whole Foods, based in Austin, Texas, is the nation’s leading natural foods chain with annual sales of about $4.7 billion. Wild Oats, based in Boulder, Colo., is the No. 3 natural foods supermarket chain with about $1.1 billion in sales, according to Hoover’s Inc.

For Whole Foods, the acquisition of the Whole Grocer allows it to get into the Portland market before it even breaks ground for a new store and eliminate an established, locally owned competitor at the same time.

When Wild Oats opened its store in early 2003, Whole Grocer owner Chandrika Sanyal complained about the proximity to her store and said the market would be over-saturated.

Sanyal said the sale to Whole Foods Co. will take place next Thursday, but she declined to offer more details until after the papers are signed. The regional manager for Whole Foods also declined comment.

A Wild Oats spokeswoman said the company is not concerned about the prospect of facing Whole Foods head-to-head.

In 75 percent of Wild Oats’ markets, Whole Foods Markets also has a store, Sonja Tuitele said. When a competitor opens, sales at Wild Oats stores generally decline initially but rebound in a few months, she said.

In the natural foods market, retailers find that having more stores generally increases consumer interest in organic and natural foods, Tuitele said.

“There was a lot of noise that we were going to put Whole Grocer out of business, but everything we’ve heard is that her business has improved,” she said. “A rising tide lifts all boats. The whole industry really has the wind at its back.”

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Information from: Portland Press Herald, https://www.pressherald.com

AP-ES-01-20-06 0215EST