John Mackey was fascinated by healthy eating. He attended a vegetarian-op and decided to become a buyer for the group. With his then-girlfriend, Renee Lawson Hardy, then attempted to open a natural grocery store called SaferWay. When this store didn’t do much business, they approached the owners of another grocery store, Craig Weller and Mark Skiles, and decided to work together. In September of 1980, they opened the first Whole Foods in Austin, Texas. They started out selling meat, beer and wine. From opening day, it was a success.
In 1981, their store flooded, and Mackey thought his dream of Whole Foods was over. Amazingly, the community of Austin stepped in to help and save the store. After it re-opened, Mackey expanded, and stores flourished. At the start it was a private business, but in 1992, it became a public business and had a value of $100 million.
In 2013, Whole Foods sales dropped when giant retailers like Walmart and Kroger’s started selling fresh foods, as well as the introduction of Trader Joe’s and at home meals, like Blue Apron. The market had shifted and Whole Foods suffered.
Mackey refused to sell, and instead made a deal with Amazon. Mackey saw a desire for innovation in the grocery industry and customer satisfaction in Jeff Bezos and his team that made him determined to work with him. Today, they work together to make healthy shopping more convenient for customers. With the help of Amazon, Whole Foods’ sales went back up, and really helped save the company.
