WhoFooMa: "It's Vegas with organic, gluten-free scones."

Christopher Hawthorne, architecture critic for the LA Times, has written a great critique of WhoFooMa as "the grocery store version of a hybrid SUV made by Lexus or a 12,000-square-foot 'green' house with a swimming pool and six-car garage accompanying its solar panels and sustainably harvested decking."

WhoFooMa shoppers and employees enjoying the atmosphere of self-righteousness and organic nitrous oxide. Image courtesy of Trusted Places blog.

Hawthorne notes the parallels between green architecture and organic foods as movements that have been co-opted by jackass environmentalist impulses:

"Somewhere along the way, for both organic grocers and the corporate patrons of green architecture, the line between planet-saving and aggressive marketing became blurred. Companies realized that promoting themselves as eco-friendly could be a powerful sales tool...

The genius of the Whole Foods approach, under hard-driving Chief Executive John Mackey, has been to realize that many American consumers have a vague desire to buy organic and live healthier but have no interest in dispensing with selection or comfort.

Read Hawthorne's full column here.