Welcome to Kitsilano!

Whole Foods Market, Since 1980

It may or may not be a coincidence that Whole Foods Market, organic agriculture and environmental initiatives have all grown significantly over the past 30 years. See below for some key points in time of that parallel growth, and don’t miss the Fun Facts, too!

We realize this hardly makes for a complete history of Whole Foods Market. Each and every customer, Team Member, supplier and partner has contributed to our growth and has unique Whole Foods Market memories. What are yours? Share your stories and read others’ on our Whole Foods Market “Remember when…” page.

Here are some fun facts over the last 30 years…

1980

• Whole Foods Market opens with 19 employees, some of whom are still team members as of 2010.
• Thanks to all the Beetles in the parking lot, people joke that it’s hard to tell the difference between a VW dealer and the first Whole Foods Market store.

1981

• The single Whole Foods Market store is severely flooded, the community rallies and helps begin the clean up, and then 12 Team Members work tirelessly to reopen within just 28 days.

1985

• America is watching the last episodes of Dukes of Hazzard, Whole Foods Market is already working to reduce the use of hazardous pesticides, and the Organic Trade Association is established, giving the organic movement new momentum.

1989

• For the opening of our first Whole Foods Market California store in 1989 no one showed up for the job fair.
• In April, the cover of our internal team member newsletter announces a company partnership with Philip Morris. (Yes, that’s an April Fool’s joke, and in 1998 the partner is NASCAR!)

1997

• Whole Foods Market introduces quality to value, releasing our first 365 Everyday Value® brand products.

1998

• The first proposed National Organic Standards rule (December 1997) allows the use of GMOs, biosolids (sewage sludge) and irradiation in products labeled organic. Whole Foods Market rallies customers and Team Members in a successful store-based, letter-writing campaign and the rules are rewritten!
• Whole Foods Market makes the first FORTUNE magazine “100 Best Companies to Work For” list (and continues to make it year after year).

2002

• The Whole Foods Market Cookbook is published.

2004

• As a result of an idea presented by team members, the Green Mission Task Force, concerned with addressing recycling and environmental issues company-wide, is created.
• Whole Foods Market is the second-largest commercial purchaser of green power in the EPA’s Green Power Partnership.

2005

• Whole Foods Market is, as far as we know, the only supermarket with a holiday-season rooftop ice skating rink, and in Austin, Texas no less! (And it’s still there every holiday season.)

2007

• CEO John Mackey and Michael Pollan, author of Omnivore’s Dilemma, engage in a spirited discussion to a standing-room-only crowd, and awareness of the power of eating locally is heightened.
• Whole Foods Market releases the first design of our 99-cent, reusable “A Better Bag,” made from recycled plastic water bottles.

2008

• We make Guinness World Records for “Most Parmigiano Reggiano Wheels Cracked Simultaneously,” a.k.a. the crack heard ’round the world!
• Whole Foods Market distributes more than 400 tons of non-perishable food to help with food bank shortages around the world.
• Whole Foods Market announces support for the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to help improve wages and working conditions for Florida tomato pickers.

2009

• Whole Foods Market partners with Renegade Lunch Lady Chef Ann Cooper to promote healthy school lunch reform.
• Our special April Fool’s Day homepage content surprised and delighted website visitors with self-mocking humor.
• Whole Foods Market Twitter followers top 1.5 million.
• We add a 7th Core Value: Promoting the health of our stakeholders through healthy eating education.

2010

• Our cheese selection has become one of the best in the world, with more than 1,600 varieties — a big cheese change from 30 years ago when we sold only 17 varieties.
• On average, approximately 20% of Whole Foods Market’s fresh produce is locally grown.
• Whole Planet Foundation™ team member donations (via elective payroll deductions) hits more than $1.3 million, empowering more than 7,300 impoverished entrepreneurs to lift themselves out of poverty.

Let’s Retake Our Plates

Every bite has a story.  Whether it’s a bite of pasta, a T-bone steak or a banana, your conscious food choices can make a world of difference.  Let’s support sustainable food choices.

Let’s Retake Our Plates.

Who Are We?

What is Capers Whole Foods Market Kitsilano all about? We seek out the finest natural and organic foods available, maintain the strictest quality standards in the industry, and have an unshakeable commitment to sustainable agriculture and supporting local vendors and farmers. Add to that the excitement and fun we bring to shopping for groceries, and you start to get a sense of what we’re all about.

Visitors to our West 4th Avenue store are greeted by our colourful produce department, fantastic in-house bakery and prepared foods areas, knowlegable Whole Body department and a sunny outdoor courtyard patio, great for watching the neighbourhood pass by.

We’re a mission-driven company. One of our core values that we use in everyday decisions is “caring about our communities and the environment”. Since opening our store in November 1993, we have donated over $750,000 back into the community through Food Bank donations, 5% Community Support Days and our Change for Change program. As well, we discontinued using plastic bags in April 2008 and have saved approximately 150 million plastic bags companywide from going into landfills.

We are proud residents of Kitsilano and Vancouver. Thank you for choosing to shop with us!