I was in Dallas over the weekend. According to the Dallas Morning News, the creator of Eatzi's is reacquiring the original store in Dallas, and closing the rest.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/1117dnbusEatzis.31bb0e7.html

My intel is that the Whole Foods is going to be similar to the one on Sixth and Lamar in Austin. I don't think that Eatzi's would have been able to compete with that.

Ya, my mom says that the new Whole Foods is supposed to be one of the really really big ones. My mom gets food ocassionally from Eatzie's, but she considered buying Whole Foods stock when it opened in Austin. The Whole Foods would be very hard to compete with.

I don't get while they are closing so soon, though...

ITS REALLY AMAZING SEEING HOW BLIND THE PEOPLE CAN BE. I WORKED IN THE HOUSTON STORE FOR SIX YEARS, MY BABY WAS TURNED INTO SHIT BY INVESTORS, THEY ARE NOTHING LESS THAN MONEY HUNGRY IDIOTS WHO MAKE EVERY DECISION ON MONEY AND BUSINESS NOT ON CULINARY EXCELLENCE. NOT EVERYTHING CAN BE CUT...LABOR, QUALITY RAW INGREDIENTS, TRAINING, EMPLOYEE CARE, AND MOST OF ALL CULTURE. MAYBE NOW THEY WILL REALIZE THAT THE PROBLEM WAS NOT THE THEFT OR THE WASTE, IT WAS SH^&%&** UPPER MANAGEMENT WHO KNEW NOTHING ABOUT FOOD AND WHO TRIED TO USE A NON FOOD COMPUTER SYSTEM TO RUN THE PLACE CASTANZA PARTNERS YOU GOT WHAT YOU DESERVE AND YES! DROPPING THE NEWS ON MY FELLOW, PAST COWORKERS SHOW JUST WHAT PEOPLE YOU ARE....AND THEN YOU ARE TO SMALL DOWN THERE TO EVEN GIVE A PRESS RELEASE. GOOD WORK DIANE AND TO ALL WHO RAN AND WERE TO SMALL TO SAY ANYTHING TO THE MEDIA. YING AND YANG, GOD PUNISHES THE EVIL.e

I'm not surprised Eatzi's closed. Items were overpriced and generally speaking, employees unhelpful and arrogant. With the opening of Whole Food and then Fresh Market in the Atlanta area, Eatzi's was doomed. Customers finally got alternatives. That they closed just before Turkey Day, even after taking holiday orders, just shows the arrogance and care less attitude that filtered from management downward. Eatzi's - a great idea poorly executed. Good riddance.

I visit Houston regularly on business, and I enjoyed take-out from Eatzi's more than once a week whenever I was in town. I am a lifetime WeightWatchers member, and Eatzi's was THE location in Houston that allowed me to achieve and maintain my weight goal. The specific ingriedients and manner of food preparation were the features that consistently drew me into Eatzi's. I will miss Eatzi's as I continue my journey toward healthy eating in Houston.

I worked in management in the Rockville, Maryland Eatzi's location. Unfortunately, as many others have said, Eatzi's was a great concept and it was poorly executed. The investors had no idea how to properly run a food business. I was repeatedly asked to cut corners by reducing my labor. We were perpetually being placed on credit hold with our vendors. Of course customer service was lacking - we weren't able to keep up with the demand! I am not aware of how the other locations handled their closings, but in the Maryland store, we were given a 24 hour notice that our jobs were being terminated, exactly one week before Thanksgiving. There was barely an explanation and no severance package, not even for management who gave 100% towards keeping the store afloat. We've been given no information regarding our benefits and no phone calls are being returned. My last day at work was spent calling customers, explaining that we were not able to fulfill their Thanksgiving catering orders. To the very end, we were doing the dirty work for the investors. I am sure the investors walked away with fat wallets and were secure financially while many people were left wondering how they were going to make their next mortgage/rent payments and provide Christmas/Hanukkah presents to their children.

I worked for eatZi's for 8 years at the Dallas location. It was great for the first 6 but when the investors took over I new it would not be long till I had to leave. I was right and so glad I left in time. Look where they are today.

Man, that is really really sad stuff. I lived near the Rockville Eatzi's during the late '90s and remember how great the place was when it first opened. In fact, I ate there almost every day, and took out of town visitors there regularly. I moved away from the DC area in 2000, and just recently returned. I found Eatzi's looking a little ragged around the edges. The food didn't look as fresh, the store hadn't been updated at all, and there was a drastic reduction in the number of customers during peak hours. So when I went there last week, and found a sign on the door saying they had closed (there was also a note to employees telling them of some other local business that was hiring), I was sad, but not entirely surprised. It is heartbreaking to hear how this fantastic and once-innovative place was driven into the ground by its investors. Eatzi's, you will be missed.

For the past 12 years we've considered Rockville, Maryland a home away from home. We looked forward to going to Eatzi's each time we visited. We sang its praise to many people. We were deeply sadden and perplexed when we recently arrived at Eatzi's only to find that the store had permanently closed. We literally sat in our car, in the parking lot, with our mouth agape and our eyes wide open with shock and disappointment. We loved Eatzi's and we mourn it's loss as that of a close friend. Eatzi’s of Rockville will be sadly missed and we will treasure its memory.