Boulder as organic as it gets

BOULDER, Colo. — The Flatiron Mountains jutting overhead, Barry Milner sips a beet-and-carrot juice in the shade outside a Wild Oats Marketplace, hoping to ward off a slight summer cold.

Milner, 63, travels the country teaching Shambhala meditation, an easygoing preacher of the virtues of a healthy mind and body who fits this haven of holistic living as much as it fits him. "I think the spirit of Boulder is health, but of course, there's fanaticism everywhere," he says.

Home to the Wild Oats chain, this liberal college town is a proving ground for the fittest among organic retailers.

"It is the leading area in terms of the aggregation of natural food companies and entrepreneurs and even trade journals," said Organic Inc. author Samuel Fromartz, who describes Boulder as "ground zero" of the natural and organic food industry.

Austin, Texas-based rival Whole Foods Market Inc. recently completed its acquisition of Wild Oats for $565 million, a deal that piqued national interest in the organic grocery industry because of opposition from federal regulators and the internal e-mails and online postings of Whole Foods CEO John Mackey.

Whole Foods said it took out a five-year, $700 million loan to fund the deal, which also includes the assumption of $137 million in Wild Oats debt.

Wild Oats Markets Inc. started in Boulder in 1987 with the purchase of a single natural foods store. The concept grew into the nation's second-largest natural and organic foods supermarket chain, with more than 110 stores in 24 states and British Columbia, and annual sales of more than $1 billion.

Other companies that call Boulder home include Hain Celestial Group, which makes Celestial Seasonings teas; Horizon Organic dairy products; Izze Beverage Co., which manufactures sparkling juices; and, until recently, WhiteWave Foods, makers of Silk soy milk.

Boulder's population of 83,432 includes many of the key demographics that natural foods retailers target — an educated work force, a higher income base and people who care about the environment and about what they eat. About three-fourths of Boulder residents have at least a bachelor's degree, and the median income was $46,000 in the latest U.S. Census Bureau statistics.

At the foot of the Rockies about 30 miles northwest of Denver, Boulder puts more value on open space than square footage and requires motorists to share roads with cyclists and joggers.