Natural Grocers carries only organic-certified produce. Photo by Derrick Ho
Move over Clovers, there’s a new natural food store in town.
Natural Grocers, owned by Colorado-based Vitamin Cottage, opened its first Missouri store on Tuesday, and Vox stopped by yesterday to check it out.
The first thing you might notice is how many gluten-free products Natural Grocers carries. If you have a wheat allergy, this is the place to shop! A little less than half the store is set aside for vitamins and supplements, and many of these are gluten free as well.
Natural Grocers also follows sustainable business practices. For example, when you buy something, if you haven’t brought a bag with you, you can buy a reusable one or carry your groceries in a cardboard box, which you can recycle later.
Everything in the store is organic and/or natural – and vetted by the company.
“We taste test all the groceries we put out there,” says Nancy Flynn, director of marketing at Natural Grocers. “We do a lot of research before we put things on the shelf.”
The company provides a list online of what they won’t sell and why, and they reserve the right to retest products at any time, Flynn says.
Besides vitamins and supplements, the store also sells bath and beauty products, bulk items, organic produce and pet items.
The organic produce is how Amy Powell heard about the store. Powell was impressed with the store and selection of organic produce. She currently shops at Hy-Vee and will continue to shop there because of its location, but says she will return to Natural Grocers because of the selection.
The store was busy when Vox visited on Wednesday, and store manager Travis Kimball thinks it will get even busier this weekend. He expects around 1,000 people a day to visit on Saturday and Sunday.
So, if you’re not spending your weekend at Citizen Jane, you should head over to Natural Grocers and check it out. Don’t forget to bring your own bag!
© Vox Talk 2011
Recent Comments