Natural Grocery's Expansion Of The Whole Food Industry

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. (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)

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 is an industry giant and the benchmark against which all other natural grocery stores are in competition. Given its stronghold on the industry, it would be exceedingly difficult for a new business to try to establish itself in the natural and organic foods market on a large scale in North America (Whole Foods Market, Inc. has over 360 stores in North America and the United Kingdom) . Any natural or niche groceries in the same vein as Whole Foods, Inc. that experience any sort of fruition seem to eventually wind up merging with them, so our group does not anticipate any

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).

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,

In the essay “Description and criticism of the three murals by Rivera” I was astonished through the murals were described. The symbolism and the comprehensive manner, the murals were defined. The way the paintings were able to revive, the power of the revolutions within Mexicans. I enjoyed reading this because I was able to identify a profound meaning on the circumstances Mexico went through after several difficult and challenging obstacles Mexico’s revolution. The murals and symbolism were another way to view the suffering and the society that went through political struggles. Through the use of colors and body language to understand the mural, it was a sophisticated manner to approach the story behind the Mexico revolution.

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

In 1978, a twenty-five year old college dropout named John Mackey and twenty-one year old, Renee Lawson, had borrowed forty-five thousand dollars from their friends and family. They wanted to open the doors to SaferWay, a natural foods store in Austin, Texas. However, the couple was booted out of their apartment when the owners discovered they were storing the stores food products in there. They decided to live at their store, because it was zoned as commercial. It was a little difficult at first because there was no shower stalls there; however, they bathed in Hobart dishwasher, which had a hose attached. Two years down the road, the couple decided to merge with the owners of Clarksville Natural Grocery, Craig Weller and Mark Skiles. This resulted in the development of the original Whole Foods Market, on September 20th, 1980. Not even a year later a terrible flood washed out approximately four hundred thousand dollars of their inventory and equipment. Unfortunately, the store had no insurance at the time. Customers and neighbors had voluntarily joined the staff of nineteen 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, Whole Foods Market started expanding out from their roots in Austin, moving to Houston, Dallas, and then New Orleans. While continuing to open new stores from the ground up, they fueled rapid growth by

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

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.