Natural Grocery's Expansion Of The Whole Food Industry

The Expansion Period. Beginning in 1984, Whole Foods Market began its expansion out of Austin, first to Houston and Dallas and then into New Orleans with the purchase of Whole Food Company in 1988. In 1989, we expanded to the West Coast with a store in Palo Alto, California. While continuing to open new stores from the ground up, we fueled rapid growth by acquiring other natural foods chains throughout the '90s: 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.

Whole Foods Market started off as being Safer Way natural grocery store in 1978. However they were not

In 1978, John Mackey and Renee Lawson borrowed $45,000 from family and friends to open a small natural foods store called SaferWay in Austin. Two years later, Mackey partnered with Craig Weller and Mark Skiles to merge SaferWay with the latter’s Clarksville Natural Grocery, resulting in the opening of the original Whole Foods Market (WFM). Since then, WFM has expanded to 466 stores in the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom, averaging over nine million customer visits each week. “The company has always represented the highest quality, selection and service while still offering prices customers are willing to pay on premium products”. (Whole Foods Market,

Whole Foods was established in 1980 with one store in Austin, Texas. Today, Whole Foods is the world’s largest leader in natural and organic foods. There are over 310 stores in North America and the United Kingdom. Whole Foods is committed to the finest natural and organic foods available, sustainable agriculture and have one of the strictest of quality standards. Whole Foods offers customers a wide variety of products. “Natural” refers to food that is free of growth hormones or antibiotics, where “certificated

Whole Foods Market is a leader in the quality and differentiation food business, they offer natural and organic products. Whole food market was opened in 1980 by John Mackey, Renee Lawson Hardy, Craig Weller and Mark Skiles. It was founded in Austin, Texas. In 1984, they start to expand their business out of Austin such as Houston, Dallas and later to others states within the US. In 2002, they entered the Canadian market in Toronto and they entered the United Kingdom in 2004 by acquiring seven Fresh & Wild stores (Whole Foods Market History, n.d). Whole Foods Market is ranked as the nation’s leading retailer of natural and organic

Whole Foods Market Inc. is a popular retail destination for natural and organic foods and byproducts, since its establishment in 1980 by four local businesspeople in Austin, Texas. It is notable for supporting sustainable agriculture, promoting the reduction of waste and consumption of nonrenewable resources and encouraging environmentally safe cleaning and store-maintenance programs. The company showcases its ethics and social responsibility through its green mission, foundations, and Whole Trade Guarantee.

Whole Foods Market, Inc. (WFM) lives through their motto of “Whole Food, Whole People, Whole Planet.” WFM opened their first store in Austin, Texas with 19 employees in 1980. Today, WFM has 311 stores in the US, Canada and the UK, and employs more than 72,700 employees. Whole Foods Market is one of the largest natural and organic food retailers in North America. WFM has grown to its size today mostly through mergers and acquisitions of such brands as Bread and Circus and Natures Heartland. In 2011 and 2012 Whole Foods Market was added to the Fortune 100 “Best Places to Work” list. Fortune Magazine (2012)

Whole Foods Market’s first retail location was in Austin, Texas. Today there are 342 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. The growth of this health conscious conglomerate happened over the years by strategic acquisitions of profitable independent stores throughout United States. Mackey’s idealism and respect is exhibited in his openness about the contributions of these retailers to the success of WFM, as the website provides an in depth summary of each acquisition and its contribution to promoting healthier food choices (Whole Foods Market History, 2014). After four years in Austin, Texas WFM branched out into the city of Houston when it purchased the Whole Foods Company, and shortly after, on the west coast, a new store was built in Palo Alto, California. Subsequently WFM began aggressive acquisitions over the next few years, which help to accelerate the growth rate of WFM in other geographical locations. In 2002 WFM opened in Canada and in 2004 through the acquisition of United Kingdom’s grocery chain Fresh & Wild, it opened seven stores. Holistic eating is a worldwide affair that WFM is taking advantage

Number Fifteen: Whole Foods was founded by John Mackey and Renee Lawson. The grocery store was first opened to the public in 1978. The decision to open the store was born after the two local businessmen decided that the organic and natural food industry had come of age and that

Whole Foods was founded back in 1980 in Austin, Texas and led the industry for 20 years by focusing efforts on selling quality fresh, local, and organic produce. At Whole Foods, they consider "quality the highest form of value, which means strict standards that take into account such things as artificial food preservatives, sustainable seafood, animal welfare, antibiotics in meat and pesticides in vegetables" (Wholefoodsmarket.com, Mission, and Values).

After dropping out of the University of Texas in 1978, John Mackey and friend, Renee Lawson (Hardy) were able to borrow $45,000 from Mackey’s family to open a small health food store, Safe Way Natural Foods, in Austin, Texas. A few years later in 1980 they met Craig Weller and Mark Skiles, who owned the Clarksville Natural Grocery, they decided to merge their stores. Thus Whole Foods Markets was born.

* In 1996 Whole Foods Markets acquires Fresh Field Markets picking up 22 stores located on the east coast and Chicago area for 4.8 million shares of common stock and an option for 549,000 additional shares. (Thompson, 2010; C-13)

Whole Foods Market is a chain of organic, natural supermarkets found in USA, Canada and the UK. Initially founded in Austin, Texas in 1980, at a time when there were less than half a dozen natural supermarkets, the company saw rapid growth domestically through expanding across Texas and then into the West Coast of America. This was achieved through growth from the ground up and acquiring smaller natural food companies. Whole Foods Market in the present day is the result of acquiring 14 smaller firms - a key driver in breaking into the UK and Canadian markets.

Whole Foods Market (WFM) was founded in 1980 as a single local grocery store by John Mackey for natural and health foods. By 1991, WFM had 10 up-and-running stores with revenues of about $92.5 million in United States Dollars (USD), and a net income of about $1.6 million in USD. In 1992 WFM became a publicly traded company with its stock trading on the NASDAQ. By 2006 Whole Foods Market had progressed into the world’s largest retail chain of natural and organic foods supermarket. As of September 2007 WFM has 276 stores up-and-running. 263 of the stores are located throughout 37 of the U.S. and the District of Columbia. 7 of the stores are in Canada and 6 in the U.K.

Does your local grocery store have a section dedicated to natural or organic foods? I bet it does. That probably wasn't the case in 1980, when Whole Foods Market opened their first store in Austin, Texas. In the past 30 years, Whole Foods Market grocery chain has become the worldwide leader in natural and organic foods.