When did the first Whole Foods store open?

In 1980, Clarksville Natural Grocery merged with Safer Way Natural Foods of Austin, Texas, to become Whole Foods Market. A flood the following year severely damaged the store, inventory and equipment.

Whole Foods’ initial expansion came through merging and acquiring other stores and companies. The first Whole Foods Markets outside of Austin were in Houston and Dallas. In 1988, Whole Foods Market acquired The Whole Food Company of New Orleans, its first expansion beyond Texas. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, the company continued acquiring natural food stores and building new ones. As of 2015, Whole Foods operates over 420 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.