Whole Foods Market, Inc. – history, company profile (overview) and history video
Whole Foods Market, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc., is a multinational supermarket chain headquartered in Austin, Texas, United States. It owns and operates a chain of natural and organic food supermarkets in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
The company’s product categories include beverages, body care products, snacks, frozen foods, pantry staples, supplements and gift baskets, and eco-scaling cleaning products.
HISTORY
Whole Foods Market was founded in 1978 when twenty-five-year-old college dropout John Mackey and twenty-one-year-old Renee Lawson (Hardy), borrowed $45,000 from family and friends to open a small vegetarian natural foods store called SaferWay in Austin, Texas. When the two were evicted for storing food products in their apartment, they decided to live at the store. Since it was a zoned commercial, there was no shower stall. Instead, they bathed in the Hobart dishwasher, which had an attached water hose.
In 1980, John Mackey and Renee Lawson partnered with Craig Weller and Mark Skiles to merge SaferWay with their Clarksville Natural Grocery, resulting in the opening of the original Whole Foods Market.
In 1981, the worst flood in 70 years devastated the city of Austin. Caught in the flood waters, the store’s inventory was wiped out and most of the equipment was damaged. The losses were approximately $400,000 and Whole Foods Market had no insurance. Customers and neighbors voluntarily joined the staff to repair and clean up the damage. Creditors, vendors and investors all provided breathing room for the store to get back on its feet, and it re-opened only 28 days after the flood.
In 1984, the company began its expansion to Houston and Dallas.
In 1988, Whole Foods Market expanded to New Orleans with the purchase of Whole Food Company.
In 1989, the company expanded to the West Coast with a store in Palo Alto, California.
During the ’90, the company acquired other natural foods chains: Wellspring Grocery of North Carolina, Bread & Circus of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, Mrs. Gooch’s Natural Foods Markets of Los Angeles, Bread of Life of Northern California, Fresh Fields Markets on the East Coast and in the Midwest, Florida Bread of Life stores, Detroit area Merchant of Vino stores, and Nature’s Heartland of Boston.
In 200, Whole Foods Market acquired Food for Thought in Northern California and Harry’s Farmers Market stores in Atlanta.
In 2002, the company expanded into Canada.
In 2004, Whole Foods Market entered the United Kingdom by acquiring seven Fresh & Wild stores.
In 2008, the company opened its first store in Hawaii.
In 2017, Whole Foods Market was acquired by Amazon.com, Inc.
With more than 91,000 employees, Whole Foods Market, Inc. is considered one of the world’s largest companies in natural and organic foods. According to Forbes, it is considered one of The Largest Public Companies in The World.
*Information from Forbes.com, Wikipedia.org, and www.wholefoodsmarket.com.
**Video published on YouTube by “WholeFoodsMarket“