Whole Foods started as a vegetarian shop named after a joke about a supermarket.
In 1978 John Mackey opened “SaferWay” in Austin — a pun on Safeway — and lived in the store, bathing under a hose rigged to the dishwasher. In 1980 it merged with another grocer into the first Whole Foods Market. A 1981 flood wiped out the uninsured store. Customers rebuilt it in 28 days.
Whole Foods on Brandseum