For most of his working life, Chris Mallam has been an employee of Whole Foods — in three states and three different departments. But three-plus years into his second stint at Weavers Way, the wellness buyer at Next Door seems to have found a place where he can use his knowledge and people skills.

Chris, 35, grew up in Hamilton Square, NJ, outside Trenton. His first job, as a cashier at Marrazzo’s Thriftway in Robbinsville, almost ended after a few months; he found it nearly impossible to stand in one spot for hours.

So Chris got moved to the store’s sit-down café, where quick meals, mostly breakfast, were made to order. Before long, the cooks were asking him to man the griddle so they could get a smoke.

“It got to where, ‘All right, you’re opening Saturday, Sunday morning and cooking breakfast for all the people that come in after church,’ ” he recalled.

Chris was able to build on his cooking skills a year later, when he began to do prep work for Marrazzo’s catering department. He graduated from Steinert High School in 2000, and enrolled in Mercer County Community College just over a year later. 

His introduction to the wellness world happened at the Whole Foods in Princeton. He was working in Prepared Foods, but was approached by the wellness team leader there after a few months to join that department.

“I was like, ‘I don’t know all those tinctures and bottles, and what the hell a tincture is,” he said. “The rest of the guys came and [they said] ‘We’ll teach you what you need to know.’ ”

Chris loved the nonstop learning process that began when he joined the Whole Body team. Even so, it took several years, including two detours at other departments in other Whole Foods, for him to get back to wellness. 

While on one of those detours, in January 2012, Chris fell three stories from the porch of his apartment in West Philadelphia. Landing on the concrete steps below, he broke his femur and his wrist, suffered cracks to his pelvic bone and fractured his jaw in a couple of places. He couldn’t walk, and had to move back in with his parents while he recuperated. After a year of rehab, he was able to get around by himself, and got back in touch with former Weavers Way employee Emil Duffy. Emil told Chris about an opening in prep foods, and Chris returned to the store in early 2013. 

When he found out about the planned debut of Next Door in the fall of 2013, Chris was hesitant to apply at first. He asked his boss, Executive Chef Bonnie Shuman, “How would you feel if I went for Wellness?” “I just knew I wanted to be in that environment.”

Chris earned an associate degree in architecture from Mercer, and he was able to use some of those skills to help set up the store. “There’s a lot of really small details that go into these things,” he said. “With this here, I was able to have more of a vision. I did a lot of drawings and sketching and stuff.”

Most days, passersby can find the Chestnut Hill resident on the top step of the entrance to Next Door, ready to welcome them. 

“I like how you’re able to take the time with somebody for the most part and help them,” he said. “It’s a lot different helping them feel better, and they’ll live their life better . . . there’s something about having a deeper connection with your customers.”