Whole Foods Bans Motif

For a dozen years, Motif has had a robust relationship with Whole Foods Market, occasionally hitting up their experts with health and nutrition questions, and distributing at their Providence locations in exchange for ad space as part of their community outreach initiatives. A few months ago, they severed that arrangement. It happened at the same time that Amazon took over the chain, but they’ve assured us that’s unrelated. They gave a few reasons, including a corporate no-soliciting policy (we have ads in here, but a magazine isn’t really considered soliciting), and cleanliness concerns, as well as concerns about fairness to other magazines. But the University Heights manager ultimately boiled it down to, “No one’s complained since we stopped carrying it.”

We are sad to lose that connection to our readers who grabbed the paper at Whole Foods – a lot of you seemed to like it. If you would like to see it come back, let’s try a little social experiment – go to the Whole Foods help desk. There’s rarely a line, and they’re usually super friendly – and let them know you’d like to see Motif return. Keep it that short and simple – just leave a message, and maybe, if that adds up, they’ll listen to you. And, er, ask your friends who shop there … since they may not see this message.