John Mackey had a relatively conventional, middle-class, suburban upbringing. But it was the 1970s, so Mackey quit

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John Mackey had a relatively conventional, middle-class, suburban upbringing. But it was the 1970s, so Mackey quit college and embraced an alternative lifestyle (e.g., long beard, wild hair). After having worked for a time in a vegetarian collective, he solicited money from family and friends so that he could open a new sort of co-op in 1978: organic food store on the first floor, restaurant on the second floor, and living quarters on the top of the old Victorian house he had found.

A couple of years later, Mackey went further and opened the first Whole Foods store in a 10,000-squarefoot space that had once been a nightclub. In keeping with its history, Mackey made sure his natural food store was no stodgy, boring site with just granola. He stocked beer, meat, and wine, and he ?loved it. I loved retail. I loved being around food. I loved natural foods. I loved organic foods. I loved the whole idea of it. And a thought entered into my mind that maybe this is what I could do.?

But being a grocer was not a particularly popular aspiration with his family. His mother, a former teacher, strongly discouraged his interest in Whole Foods. According to Mackey?s account, on her deathbed in 1987, she asked him to promise to return to school to get his college degree; when he demurred, she complained, ?I wish you?d just give up that stupid health-food store. Your father and I gave you a fine mind, and you?re wasting it being a grocer.?