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Come slash Do-Bois Media. Not long after the widespread adoption of the diesel tractor, a backlash arrived in the form of the natural foods movement. Growing organically if you will

from a collective of farms united by their commitment to environmentally

friendly practices by the 60s and 70s natural food stores began to pop up in

hippie friendly communities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin, Texas.

And it's Austin where partners Renee Lawson and John Mackie founded their store Saferway in 1978,

which would merge with rival Clarksville Natural Grocery in 1980, birthing a supermarket brand that's become ubiquitous today.

But barely a year into the joint concept's existence, Austin was struck by the historic

Memorial Day flood of 1981, which killed 13 people and destroyed dozens of homes and businesses, including this

fledgling organic store. The dream appeared to be dead. But then the rain stopped, the community rallied, and in a potent show of solidarity,

locals committed to keep Austin Fed volunteered to rebuild the devastated sore front.

Less than a month later, the retailer reopened and local bands played at a benefit dubbed the resurrection party to celebrate the miraculous comeback.

And back it came and grew from an Austin institution to a chain spanning Texas and then the US and

Canada exponentially increasing its footprint as baby boomer hippies evolved like evil

Pokemon into SUV driving suburbanites, willing to pay a premium for alternatives to

process food stock supermarkets.

In 2017, the company was acquired by Amazon in a billion dollar bid to expand its Amazon fresh operations.

The two corporations sharing common ground in their hatred of organized labor.

Today, 43 years after the Texas flood that nearly smothered a mom and pop greengrocer in its crib, it's inconceivable

that a community, in the wake of a natural disaster, would rally to rebuild what's effectively

...