After a trip to Portland, Sandra Mckee and her husband came back with the idea of opening up the first vegan grocery store in Arizona.
"My husband and I took a family trip to Portland, Oregon and they have a well-established vegan grocery store there called Food Fight," said Sandra.
Sandra, who has been a vegan for 14 years, took one look at her husband and told him that they could totally do this.
One year later, they are preparing for the grand opening of the vegan grocery store that will be called Veggie Rebellion.
"In the last five years, veganism has exploded," said Sandra.
About 3.7 million U.S. adults are vegan and 4.3 million are vegetarian but not vegan, according to The Vegetarian Resource Group.
"People are really becoming aware, so the access to information (about benefits of veganism) has really propelled veganism forward, which is fantastic," said Sandra.
Veggie Rebellion will be in the heart of Glendale, but some have thoughts about the location of the store.
"Glendale is so underserved, the West Valley -- there's nothing out here," said Sandra.
Her husband posted a map on Veggie Rebellion's Instagram page and there are definitely more options in the East Valley compared to the west.
A post shared by Veggie Rebellion (@veggierebellion) on
"We're going to have produce, we're going to have all that go-to fun foods people look for, including nuggets, burgers, meats and cheeses," said Sandra.
All of their shelf space at the grocery store is dedicated to vegans.
"Any other grocery store like Whole Foods, they're applying the principal of catching everybody's attention," said Sandra.
Sandra and her family are really excited to open Veggie Rebellion.
There's not an exact date, but she does say it will be in the next couple of weeks.
Sandra did say she recently spoke to a lady from Bisbee who said she will open up a small vegan shop as well.
The store is located at 5717 W. Glendale Avenue in Glendale.