It Came From Burnet Road
I went to the Redmond Whole Foods this morning for a muffin. I always feel a little odd whenever I go into a nice, new Whole Foods because it makes me feel like a proud old grandmother, stumping around with a cane, thinking, “Ya done good, ya little whippersnapper. I remember when …”
Back in the day, over in Austin, I’d go to the first — the only — Whole Foods on Burnet Road for a pumpkin muffin and a coffee. That was back when organic food was expensive and wrinkled and nasty because there wasn’t any infrastructure. In those sepia-toned days, their snacky area had metal utensils and ceramic mugs. Over the months and years I saw the little idealistic outfit grow and change.
Boy, did I raise a fuss when they took the cream cheese out of my pumpkin muffins! I raised a fuss when they switched out the metal forks for plastic, and the mugs for disposable (although they shamefacedly displayed the numbers showing how it wasn’t so bad). But whenever I needed gluten-free, or trans-fat-free, or cruelty-free, they were there for me. They’ve always been a concept store, though. (And, for the record, they’ve always been eye-crossingly expensive.) Now here they are in Washington, all shiny and successful, like a friend who’s made the move ahead of me.
I’m really looking forward to all the farmers’ markets … I’m told the fruit and veggie season is about to hit and I should get all my healthy recipes dusted off. But it was still kinda fun to walk around Redmond’s huge grocery store with the vast produce sections and remember the original rinky-dink veggie icer (with a white plastic bucket of peanut butter and a similar bucket of submerged tofu blocks) and think …
… “I may never forgive you for taking the cream cheese out of those pumpkin muffins.”
I hear ya. But wasn’t it in the Cheapo’s space on Lamar?
Aiee! You’re half right. The first place *was* on Lamar, not Burnet. Head-slap. I’m a dummy, and junked my title. But not at Cheapo, I don’t think. I think it’s that place near 11th that’s now a Whole Earth Provisions (or something like that …)
Heather is correct. The first WFM, a child of Saferway (which I used to shop at), was on Lamar where Cheapo CD is currently. Whole Earth Provision company is a block north. WFM was flooded in the 1981 Memorial Day flood less than a year after it opened in that first location and painted the high water mark painted on the outside of the store. People were disappointed when Cheapo took over that location and painted over that bit of Austin history.
The second WFM was on South Lamar in Brodie Oaks. It was weirdly upscale (especially for 78704), marble floors and such, riding the 80s yuppie wave. Book People was next door. The third WFM was on Burnet at 183 around the corner from Chez Fred.
Bizarre, that my memory of the location of the first place is so wrong. I believe you, though — I know you shopped there more often than I did. I went to the Brodie Oaks one, too. It definitely had more of the “flavor” of the modern day stores. The 3rd location is when I became a regular.