Shelley Hawn-Founder & President (May 1981)
Shelley Hawn is the founder, president and owner of the Whole Foods Market in Penticton, B.C. Way back in the spring of 1981, Shelley opened her first business in Summerland B.C. The Summerland Whole Food Emporium was housed in a tiny space just off Main Street and for nearly two years, Shelley developed and honed her business and customer service skills by establishing the first natural food store in that town. (Shelley sold the Summerland store to Dorothy and John Waycott in the spring of 1984 and they continue to operate it today as the Food Emporium in the same but much expanded location).
In the spring of 1983, Shelley took the big step of opening a second store in neighboring Penticton, B.C. In 1983, bulk foods became a very popular way of buying a wide range of foods that all been pre-packed up to that point in time. It seemed that every town in the country had a new bulk food store and Shelley was the first to open a bulk food store in Penticton. In May of 1983, The Penticton Bulk Food Emporium opened in the Penticton Plaza. It was an immediate success and everything looked very bright until a very unfortunate legal dispute between the owners of the Plaza and another tenant in the Plaza caused the termination of the lease between Penticton Bulk Food Emporium and Penticton Plaza.
Summerland Store (1981)
Penticton Bulk Food Emporium (1983)
Fortunately, Shelley was able to move her store just two blocks away to a very high profile location in the 1500 block of Main Street. After 3 feverish weeks of renovations, the store re-opened just after the August long weekend in 1983. A much larger space with better signage and Main Street exposure was a real boom to the business. With no covenants restricting the type of items that could be sold, Shelley soon began to add new departments including fresh produce, frozen and refrigerated products and much more.
1515 Main Street (1983)
By the end of the 1980's, a full section of vitamins and other supplements were added. Rosemary Black joined the store in 1989 and was instrumental in making the store a successful retailer of this category. At about the same time, a wide variety of packaged natural foods was added to the store selection. To better reflect the product mix, the store was re-named Penticton Whole Food Emporium.
After several more years of constant changes, additions and innovations, a big decision was made to have a new store built in order to accommodate the ever increasing variety of incredible natural and organic foods that have come available in recent years. An opportunity to move directly across the street came up in 1996 and the plunge was ready to be taken. After many months of careful research and painstaking planning, the new store was opened in July of 1996 with yet another new name to better reflect the new store image - Whole Foods Market.
From the outset, the new location became busier and more popular than ever. Many people from across Canada claim that the Whole Foods Market is by far the best store of its type in the entire country! We even get lots of visitors from places like California who tell us that they have nothing like this store where they come from!
The New Location @ 1550 Main Street (1996)
1550 Main Street (2000) Patio Entrance
In the late 1990's, Shelley began to develop a management staff to handle many of the daily aspects of running a store that was growing at a rapid pace. Beginning with Greg Ellingsen as the store manager, and Kathryn Golbeck as the Vitamin & Personal Care Manager Shelley was able focus on more long term strategies and plans.
A few interior pictures of our store (2000)
In July, 1999, Shelley announced that she would retire from active, daily participation in the running of her store so that she could spend more time with here family and to pursue her many other interests. At the same time, she hired her husband, Richard Hunt, to perform her duties and to develop new marketing plans. Since 1999, Whole Foods Market has continued to expand its selection in all departments. Over the years, we have been fortunate to have employed an exceptional staff of dedicated and informed people. Without them, the store history would have been much different. Our current staff are outstanding and we know that they will make a big contribution.