UCLA Library has acquired the papers of Sandy Gooch, a trailblazer in the natural foods movement and founder of Mrs. Gooch’s Natural Foods Markets, which merged with Whole Foods in 1993, it was announced on Thursday.

Mrs. Gooch’s Natural Food Markets was the first natural foods supermarket chain in the United States.

After being hospitalized in the mid-1970s for a life-threatening allergic reaction to an antibiotic, Gooch discovered that chemical additives in sodas and foods worsened her condition.

Motivated by that knowledge, she left her job to open her first market in 1977 in an old A&P grocery store space in West Los Angeles.

By 1993, Mrs. Gooch’s, which offered nutritious foods while advocating for healthy lifestyles, had expanded to seven stores and was one of the highest-grossin

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