Grocery store opens with fresh outlook on food

Natural Groceries by Vitamin Cottage opened its Greeley store on Tuesday at Elk Lakes Shopping Center, 2819 35th Ave., ready to serve community members a wide variety of fresh organic foods and supplements.

The business carries healthy, all-natural items, including basic groceries, frozen and dairy products, vitamins, health and beauty products, pet food and cleaning supplies. 

All of the products are 100-percent organic and don’t contain preservatives, hormones or artificial colors or flavors. The store’s cleaning supplies and laundry detergent are perfume-free and only consist essential oils for customers with fragrance allergies.  

“We focus on high quality natural food products with affordable prices,” Vice President Liz Isely said. “That’s been our main focus since we opened in 1955.”

The store carries popular organic brands that include Health Valley, Clif Bar & Company, Country Life, Organic Valley, Rudi’s Bakery and Gardner of Life. It also sells a large assortment of gluten-free products for customers who have an intolerance.

“A big focus at our store is to focus on people’s special dietary needs,” Store manager Rob Stridde said. 

Isely said the store promotes healthy eating and offers a free nutritional health coach. 

“We have free consultations for those who walk in and want extra information,” Isely said. “It’s a nice compliment to bring folks in to learn more about our products.”

As of April 2009, the store doesn’t supply paper or plastic bags for groceries as a way to help the environment, but does provide boxes for its customers at all times.
Isely said she estimates the store will have saved 13 million bags from Earth Day 2009 to the 2010 day.

“Our effort has been very successful,” she said. “We haven’t had any issues with it, and it’s nice to help with the environment.”

Customers aren’t required to have a store membership to receive discounts. Manufactured coupons are placed on the products, and customers can sign up for coupons on the store’s mailing list. 

“Our hot specials are a great way for customers to save — they’re red price tags that we place on marked-down products,” said Daniel Masias, the operations training lead. “Customers can also sign up for coupons on our mailing list either on the Internet or at a store register.”

A section of the store features an extensive selection of vitamins and herbal supplements. 

“We have close to 8,000 skews of different vitamins,” Isely said. “We provide vitamins that students can benefit from with their busy lifestyle that include vitamin C and a lot of things for the immune system.”

Natural Grocers is a family-owned business that has been around for 55 years and contains 30 stores in Colorado and five out-of-state locations.  Employees at Natural Grocers said they hope to provide customers with quality products, friendly services and personal help.

“Our store is a full service one-stop shop for natural organic foods,” Stridde said.