Whole Foods whole story or how a little guy made a name in the natural foods business. Many of you know that John Mackie and Renee Hardy (owners of The Safer Way Grocery) and Craig Weller and Mark Skiles of the Clarksville Natural Grocery got together and started Whole Foods in Austin Texas in 1980. The first location was on Lamar at 11th Street and had a Martin Brothers Cafe inside the store. In fact my first job in Austin was making smoothies at Martin Brothers in this very store! The big flood in Austin in 1991 covered Lamar Street and flooded the Whole Foods and Martin Brothers. In a nod to Mother Nature they painted some blue waves on the corner of the building showing how deep the water was. The waves are gone now, but in the photo below I am pointing to where they were.

 There were a few natural foods retailers like Wheatsville Co-Op and Sun Harvest already in Austin. Whole Foods started a little late in the game but they took over with a vengeance. Several of the other retailers are still in Austin, but none have grown with the speed that Whole Foods has. Whole Foods subsequently built a new larger location in the late 90's on Lamar at 5th Street which they quickly out grew. This location is now home to REI, Book People and Anthropologie.

Then in 2005 they built an enormous store with several floors of offices to house the rapidly expanding enterprise on 6th and Lamar Boulevard. They are now the world's leading organic and natural grocery business. When I was in London last April I got to visit the newest WF store just after the grand opening. It was most impressive! They even had a walk-in Cheese Room for the speciality cheeses. Closer to home the newest Austin store has: tons of underground parking, elevators, grocery delivery, largest variety of fruit and veggies, natural and organic clothing and skin care items, multiple places to grab some quick casual dining options and even a massage station. If you are a natural food advocate,or vegetarian it is well worth stopping by the newest downtown location. It has everything you need and it is a great place to have lunch and people watch!