Business

Love Whole Foods to celebrate 30 years of business

The store first opened in Ormond Beach on Valentine’s Day 1991.

JARLEENE ALMENAS

ASSOCIATE EDITOR

In 1989, Ormond Beach resident Mitch Booth found a steel etching in a thrift store. Depicting an archetype of a Grecian woman, the etching had a single word written below the image.

Love.

Not long after, when Booth and his late wife were trying to come up with a name for their new business, that etching provided the needed inspiration.

“My wife and I both looked at it, and we’ve been struggling with the name, and we said, ‘That’s it,’” Booth recalled.

The Booths opened Love Whole Foods in 1991, leasing the space in the Trails Shopping Center where Talbots is now located. After a decade there, Love Whole Foods outgrew the space, andas a result, the Booths designed and constructed the building the store currently calls home at 275 Williamson Blvd.

And this upcoming Valentine’s Day, Love Whole Foods will celebrate 30 years of serving the Ormond Beach community. It’s a milestone that Booth said they never would have reached without their loyal customers.

“The reason that we’re here is real simple — our customers allow us to open the doors everyday,” Booth said.

ORMOND IS UNIQUE

When the Booths were looking for a location to open up shop, they traveled all over the state. And yet, they ended up right where they started.

“We just felt the community here was unique, that in all the places that we visited, we didn’t see anything that made us feel as good as Ormond Beach,” Booth said.

To show appreciation, after every anniversary Love Whole Foods hosts a weeklong “Local Love Week,” and this year is no exception. From Feb. 15 to 21, the store is inviting the community to stop by its stores (the second location is in Port Orange) for free samples, raffles, in-store specials and other goodies.

This year, Booth said he’s also wanting to thank his 67 employees, who have not only been dedicated to their job, but have been diligent in making sure their stores stay clean and follow the CDC guidelines to keep the community safe.

‘A GOOD BET’

Over the years, like many businesses, Love Whole Foods has faced its own share of challenges. Though in the beginning, there wasn’t a lot of competition in this market, things have changed over the years as people became more aware of what ingredients were in their foods and supplements. Booth said they were inspired by the “whole foods” concept by the former Bread and Circus natural food chain, which impacted their lives greatly due to his wife’s health and the change they saw when they upgraded their diet. Bread and Circus later adopted its parent company’s name, Whole Foods Markets.

As more health food stores and big box stores began carrying organic produce, Booth stayed honed in on his mission, one that hasn’t changed from the start: Remaining faithful to the quality of the products his stores carry, whether that be their supplements, organic or local produce.

It’s a mission that, so far, has been successful.

“As a couple, we invested everything we had, but we bet on our community, and it was a good bet,” Booth said.

Love Whole Foods owner Mitch Booth holds up the back of one of his store’s new T-shirts.

Photo by Jarleene Almenas

CROSSWORD

I WOULD NOT EAT THEM ... by Victor Barocas; Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 Word before “tie” or “line” 4 Softball glove 8 Agent Gibbs’ TV show 12 Wares, briefly 17 2-D measurement 19 Where Honolulu is 20 Valued at 21 Conscious 22 *Australian government building 25 Happen again 26 Hit with a water gun 27 In back of 28 Long-billed birds 30 Sweetie 31 Transit map line 32 Hack (off) 33 That doe 35 *Type of game that involves toying with something 39 *Spar with no opponent 42 Part of UAE 43 Neighbor of Minn. and N.Y. 44 Noted Roman censor 46 Negative answer to your own question 47 *”Transformers” actress 50 *Vehicle with a star 52 Spiritual leader? 53 ___ Lingus 54 Monarch wrapped in silk? 55 Pool temperature tester 56 Hoppy beer, for short 59 Ethiopian Verdi princess 61 Drops the ball 62 Disorderly crowd 63 Wait to publicize 65 *Discount store chain 68 *It includes an automobile’s engine 70 Surname hidden in “farewells” 71 With it 72 Minnesota has one with over 520 stores 73 Shrunken Asian sea 74 Director Anderson 75 All ready 76 Uncovered 77 Fallopian tube travelers 78 Get under the skin of 81 *When vampires come out 84 Precipitation that damages statues 86 Luanda’s nation 89 Ferber who wrote “So Big” and “Giant” 90 Summer hrs. 91 Not fooled by 92 *Kid’s father 94 *Longtime sitcom set on a cruise ship 98 Olympic code for Quito’s country 99 According to 100 Live TV option 101 “... blessing ___ curse?” 102 2020 Morgan Stanley acquisition 104 Absorbed 105 Coin’s shape, often 109 Enjoyed thoroughly 110 Sam’s book, and a hint to the starred answers’ ends 113 Girder lifter 114 Deposes 115 Clue room 116 18-wheeler 117 Tenth president 118 Tennis barriers 119 General ___ chicken 120 What whole milk has

DOWN 1 Hits with a ray gun 2 Middle Eastern country next to 23-Down 3 Lima’s country 4 Surrounded by water, as a castle 5 “Therefore ___” (Billie Eilish hit) 6 Yankees’ borough 7 Avoid being distracted by 8 “... said ___ ever” 9 Gross stuff 10 “___ anyone’s guess” 11 Young woman, in Aussie slang 12 Butterfly, in Spanish 13 Lamb raisers 14 Elapses quickly 15 Have a thing for 16 That doe 18 Chinese e-commerce giant 20 Foamy wave crests 23 See 2-Down 24 Consequently 29 Upper part of a dress 34 Prefix with “skeleton” 35 Showed up 36 Greek god in a helmet 37 Events held after decluttering 38 Tie to a pier, say 39 Cellos’ section (Abbr.) 40 Largely nocturnal bird 41 A treaty might end one 45 “One ___ time” 48 Tennis star Rafael 49 Phobia 50 Undiluted 51 Brain portion 54 ___ book (ACT study aid) 56 Lingua di Roma 57 Taro paste 58 “Bel Canto” author Patchett 60 Under the weather 61 Country north of Ethiopia 62 Digging garden pest 63 Fancy violin, briefly 64 Plan with a SEP variety 65 Morning drops 66 Are in debt 67 You, years ago 68 Playground’s place 69 Shankar who is Norah Jones’ father 72 Long running events? 75 Produced, like a show 76 Forbid 77 Latin number after septem 79 Wilson or Moreno 80 Massage target 81 Classic ISP 82 Sticky sheet 83 Once-popular pesticide 84 Provided that 85 Jason of “All the President’s Men” 86 Lincoln’s nickname 87 “Good effort!” 88 Like some muscles that squats work 90 Take great pleasure (in) 93 Willamette River’s state 95 Increase in fares 96 Song parts for singers 97 “___ Brockovich” 100 Donne and Bradstreet 103 Character in old Norse mythology? 104 Assessment 106 Cook-off competitor 107 Tibetan teacher 108 Send out 109 Perform in a play 111 Feel remorse for 112 Cal Poly campus, briefly

CELEBRITY CIPHER

By Luis Campos Celebrity Cipher cryptograms are created from quotations by famous people, past and present. Each letter in the cipher stands for another.

“ZC ITOHZO ECROZAKJV OGIODZKCJHY, LCFT RKJXEOZ RFEZ PO TOYOJZYOEEYL UCIFEOX CJ ZAO ERHYYOEZ XOZHKY.” – VKCTVKC HTRHJK

Puzzle One Clue G equals X

“YX BJELAYHZ TGE THZ AOW EHWEH AV ELXMH ... YX PAGM UE LA THMD OAYHW CHBAYH LTH CHEL SHZEUAW AV LTHYEHMSHE.” – LAY VAZK

Puzzle Two Clue: P equals G

SUDOKU

Complete the grid so that every row, column and 3x3 box contains every digit from 1 to 9 inclusively.