Fashion News
Wisconsin
December 21, 2007 10:35 AM Eastern Time   
Sibby's Premium Organic Ice Cream Enters New Phase
VIROQUA, Wis.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Following the devastating Midwest floods of August 2007, recovers and is back at full production. The
seven year old manufacturer also has announced the launch of new packaging and the debut of their first organic ice cream parlor in Viroqua,
Wisconsin.

Sibby's Premium Organic Ice Cream, a 100% woman-owned, independent ice cream manufacturer was founded in 2001 by 'Sibby' or Sue Sebion
who heads the company.

Sibby, whose business barely survived the catastrophic floods of August gleams, "After seven years of struggle and then enduring the flood
disaster, I finally feel prepared for growth and success; my new packaging is incredible, I have the support of Whole Foods and coops like Outpost
[in Milwaukee, WI], and we have national distribution... most importantly, I'm making some amazing ice cream! We also send a heart-felt thanks to
the generous donors and especially sowtheseeds.org who helped collect the disaster relief funds. And of course, I wouldn’t be here without my
many loyal customers.”

She continues, “It’s wonderful how a big company like Whole Foods stood by me while we were down. Whole Foods CEO John Mackey is
genuinely committed to embracing their local suppliers… I am a living testament to that.”

The new packaging highlights the uniqueness of her product. Sibby's is a hand-made all organic ice cream custard made from fresh, local milk. Her
product is gluten free and made without gums or artificial ingredients. Sibby herself oversees every step in production.

The ice cream factory is tucked onto her family's picturesque 150-year old Norwegian homestead farm. One of Sibby's goals is to keep the farm in
production through value-added ventures and sustainable practices, "saving the family farm" as the label declares. “My great grandfather
homesteaded this farm in 1858. It’s our mission to keep it producing and in the family.”

Sibby with national distribution through the premiere organic distributor, United Natural Foods, is available in all Midwest Whole Foods Markets
and many food coops and natural food stores across approximately sixteen states and growing.

Sibby's Premium Organic Ice Cream is also pleased to announce the opening of her first soft-serve ice cream parlor Organic Zone in Viroqua,
Wisconsin. In addition to Sibby’s ice cream, Organic Zone serves up fair-trade, locally roasted coffee and espresso drinks, soda, tea, hot dogs, and
other treats.

The décor is "warm, George Jetson, Norwegian, and eclectic". Many of the elements are recycled in one fashion or another. “New vintage, if you
will", her business partner Dr. Tony Macasaet explains. “We wanted to create a parlor that enhanced the Sibby’s experience.”

For more information: web: SibbysIceCream.com. Phone: 608-634-3828. Sibby's Organic Zone Ice Cream Parlor can be found inside the Viroqua
Public Market, 215 South Main Street, Downtown Viroqua, WI.



For use Tuesday, Dec. 25, and thereafter.

MILWAUKEE (AP) Anyone who doubts that truth can be stranger than fiction need only review Wisconsin's quirkiest news of 2007.

Besides stories of the two-nosed calf, the vulture-ridden cemetery and the dead body in the house-for-sale, a number of tales would
strain credibility if they weren't absolutely true.

Take the case of Melody Kloska and Matt Behrs of Racine. When they married on a Lake Michigan beach in August, they released a
bottle containing their wedding vows.

A month later, the bottle turned up on the other side of the lake, some 80 miles across the water, when it was picked up by Fred and
Lynette Dubendorf of Mears, Mich.

It turns out the Dubendorfs also were married on a Lake Michigan beach 28 years to the day before Kloska and Behrs' wedding day.

Kloska called it the best of omens. ``It was meant to be. This was a sign to me.''

Then there's Jack Allen Falkner, who outdid the many couples seeking good fortune by marrying on 07-07-07.

The son of Dan and Leslie Falkner was born at St. Joseph's Hospital in Chippewa Falls on the lucky date of July 7 and he weighed in at
7 pounds, 7 ounces.

Lucky or not, the baby's 3-year-old sister Allison ``thinks he's pretty cute and pretty neat,'' their dad said.

A La Crosse doctor thought he was seeing double when he worked a 24-hour period on call over the Thanksgiving weekend and wound
up delivering four sets of twins, plus one other baby.

``It was hard to believe that everything was coming in twos, but after a while you're up all night, you might as well keep delivering
babies,'' said Dr. Kenneth Merkitch of Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center. ``It's something I don't think I'll see again.''

Speaking of a double-take, Mark Krombholz of Merrill did just that when he took a good look at his newborn calf, Lucy, in May and
saw she had a small nose on top of her normal nose.

``It's a functioning nose,'' said Krombholz, who planned to keep Lucy as a pet and breed her if she's able.

A pet dog caused big trouble for her owner, Debbie Hulleman of Menomonie. The black Labrador-German shorthair mix named Pepper
was being cared for by Hulleman's mother when the dog got into a purse and gobbled up the money inside.

They thought Pepper spit up all the cash, but when Hulleman went to clean up the yard she noticed a $50 bill in a dog pile, leading to
the recovery of $400 from hunting through the droppings. Pepper had eaten $750.

``It wasn't that bad,'' Hulleman said. ``I soaked it and strained it and rinsed it. ... Everyone said, 'I can't believe you did that.' Well, for
$400, yeah, I would do that.''

Money was the big issue for a man who woke up in a Waukesha neighbor's yard without his pants. He suddenly remembered that when
he left a tavern he had a $41,093 cashier's check in his pants, meant for his son, plus several hundred dollars in cash.

Police were skeptical when he reported the missing items, but passer-by Tim Curzan's dog found the pants, Curzan discovered the
check, and it all eventually was returned to the owner, including the pants.

Honesty prevailed when a couple law enforcement leaders wouldn't turn a blind eye to their own goofs.

Kewaskum Police Chief Richard Knoebel slapped himself with a ticket for $235 for accidentally driving past a stopped school bus with
its emergency lights flashing while he was on patrol.

``If it brings notice to people that they should be stopping for school buses, I don't mind the notoriety,'' the chief said.

Brown County Sheriff Dennis Kocken ticketed himself for an unsafe lane change, earning a $160 fine, after rear-ending a suspected
speeder when that driver slowed down to turn.

In an eerie twist, police in Mayville were called in to help when about 50 turkey vultures took up residence in Graceland Cemetery.

``When they fly out of here in the morning and head off to the nearby landfill for the day, the vultures leave the cemetery looking like
a mess with feathers and bird droppings all over the place,'' caretaker Ralph Smith said.

Noise-making equipment was brought in to keep the vultures away.

Even more eerie was the case of a Janesville real estate agent who was showing a house when the prospective customers found the
homeowner in bed dead.

Agent Linda Chabucos-Galow was in the dining room while the couple walked through the house, when she heard a scream.

``I thought, 'What's wrong?' Maybe it was a dead mouse or something,'' the agent said.

The owner, a 55-year-old woman, had been dead two to three weeks, officials said.

On a comforting note, the year's quirky news proved criminals are as likely as ever to slip up.

A Madison thief came up empty-handed after trying to rob a nun who had taken a vow of poverty. He finally apologized and left, only to
be arrested later.

A Sheboygan teen went to jail after police found his pictures of potted marijuana plants on MySpace.com, with a label reading, ``My
Mary Jane thats growin in my closet right now.''

Among youngsters in the news was 7-year-old Zoey Beda of Adams, who was at a Tomah roller rink in April when she demonstrated her
favorite sport of roller limbo by roller-skating under a bar just 7 or 8 inches off the ground in limbo-dance fashion.

Her mother, Nancy, said she can never believe it when her daughter skates under the bar in a full splits and then pops back up smiling.

``I still say, 'What did I just see?'''




Is Whole Foods' approach healthy?
David Lazarus
Consumer Confidential

December 2, 2007

For a company whose main selling points are healthy living and environmental friendliness, Whole Foods Market Inc.'s huge new store
in Pasadena seems dedicated first and foremost to excess.

The two-story, 77,000-square-foot emporium is like a Disneyland for foodies. From the upstairs wine and tapas lounge to the downstairs
massage room, this Whole Foods is all about indulgence, sprinkled liberally with a sense of self-satisfaction for patronizing such an
ostensibly "green" business.

Wandering from the store's seafood bar to its "eco-chic" clothing section, I had to remind myself that I was in a supermarket and that,
at heart, this was a place where people shop for groceries.

"Whole Foods is selling an experience," said David Livingston, a supermarket consultant based in Wisconsin. "They're selling a
lifestyle. You go to Whole Foods and you know you're someplace special."

You also know you're going to drop a hefty chunk of change for all that organic produce and free-range meat -- a matter that Whole
Foods disputes but that regular shoppers know to be all too true.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not here to dis Whole Foods or smirk at its eco-happy image. This is a company that clearly knows what its
customers want and does an impressive job of providing it to them.

Last month, Whole Foods reported a nearly 25% increase in quarterly sales to $1.7 billion, although profit slipped to $33.9 million from
$39.8 million a year earlier because of the company's acquisition of rival Wild Oats Markets Inc.

For the coming year, Whole Foods is predicting a sales increase of as much as 30%.

The new Pasadena store, which joins other recently opened "larger format" branches in El Segundo and Tustin, suggests grander plans
for the Austin, Texas-based chain. It seems almost as if Whole Foods is looking to none other than Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and its armada
of discount superstores for inspiration.

The big difference, though, is that Wal-Mart uses its volume-driven market clout to bring lower prices to customers. Whole Foods,
catering to a more affluent demographic, is focused instead on making people more comfortable while they shop for pricey produce and
additive-free fare.

For a chain predicated on the notion that healthy ingredients make for healthy meals, Whole Foods also seems determined to get
people out of the kitchen and eating the company's costlier prepared foods.

It's telling that more space is devoted to prepared foods and other goodies at the Pasadena store than to produce.

Nearly all customers I chatted with at the Pasadena store said the prices were the one aspect of shopping at Whole Foods they didn't
like. Yet every one of them said that didn't deter them from patronizing the place.

"Nothing justifies these prices," said Pasadena resident Joe Reisz, 31, who was on his way upstairs to get some lunch. "But if I can't
buy what I want anywhere else, I'll keep coming here."

L.A. resident Elda Boyce, 55, said that even Whole Foods' reputation for quality didn't justify the price points. But she still likes being
at the store.

"It's like entertainment," she said. "There's a whole vibe here."

That's precisely what Whole Foods is offering, said Livingston, the supermarket consultant.

"It's almost a status symbol to shop at Whole Foods," he said. "People want to be seen there."

And that foodie fashion statement doesn't come cheap. Analysts say Whole Foods enjoys a roughly 6% pretax profit margin, whereas
the margin at traditional supermarkets is closer to 3.5%.

"They charge a premium, and people are willing to pay it," observed Mike Griswold, research director at AMR Research. "They've
conditioned the market to believe that if you want high-quality natural foods, you have to pay more for it."

So do you get more bang for your buck at Whole Foods?

"Personally, I would say no," Livingston answered. "I don't see any appreciable difference in quality. A lot of their customers are
simply buying into the company's image."

Michael Besancon, Whole Foods' Southern Pacific regional president, countered that the proof's in the pudding -- customers wouldn't
return if they weren't satisfied.

"No one will tell you that going into a conventional grocery store is something they relish," he said. "We're trying to find ways to draw
you in."

Besancon said Whole Foods was deliberate in creating a retail environment that is as much a lifestyle experience as it is a trip to the
store.

"All these other things for sale are the accents to completion of the total experience," he said.

Besancon also bristled at the suggestion that a visit to Whole Foods will cost you an arm and a leg -- the "Whole Paycheck" thing that
he said drives him nuts.

"The criticism is not valid," Besancon declared, noting that for every high-priced brand sold at Whole Foods, there's almost certainly
another brand that can go toe-to-toe with pricing at traditional markets.

That is, if you're shopping for bargain-priced goods, which most Whole Foods customers aren't.

As for the future, Livingston said he saw Whole Foods and its ilk -- Gelson's Markets, Fresh & Easy, etc. -- increasingly dominating the
higher end of the economic food chain, with Wal-Mart and other big boxes overshadowing the lower end.

The squeeze will come in the middle.

"We're seeing a slow extinction of traditional supermarkets," Livingston said. "Gradually, you'll see the likes of Safeway, Ralphs and
Vons closing."

After that, he predicted, Whole Foods and Wal-Mart will meet somewhere near the center as the former heads down-market and the
latter heads upward.

Whole-Mart? Wal-Foods? I'm not sure about that particular vibe.
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