Support Your Local Health Food Store

Natural Foods StoreA natural foods store, also known as a health store or a whole foods store, is a store that sells products related to natural health. Natural food stores, especially in North American, are often independent or family-run businesses with humble origins, although many of the more successful stores expand beyond their immediate areas and even become chains, although this is uncommon. Unlike supermarkets, which are perhaps the ideological opposites of health stores, natural food stores tend to favor products that are free of MSG, GMO, pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers, artificial sweeteners, binders, and other poisons that compromise the nutritional value, and taste, of the product in question. Also, natural food stores tend to favor prospective employees whom have a pre-existing knowledge of, or interest in, the products they sell. Many stores across America in particular require their staff members to take written tests on health-related subjects before they qualify as permanent employees.

What Kinds of Products Are Sold in a Natural Foods Store?

The types of products a natural foods store sells depends upon its size and the personal ambitions of its owners. A small-scale store located on a busy urban street, for example, is unlikely to have the same resources available for expansion as a fully-fledged health superstore out of town that has the space, and funds, for every department imaginable. That said, most health food stores tend to sell similar items to varying quantities.


It is typical, for instance, to find a health store that sells at least several of the following: Organic food (included refrigerated, frozen, and baby formulas), vitamin supplements, herbal and homeopathic remedies, healthy snacks, kitchen utilities, and magazines and books on related subjects. The larger, more food-oriented stores may also have specific food departments, such as deli, grocery, meat and seafood, beverage, and drive-thru.

Should I Support My Local Natural Foods Store?

We are living in a world where profit is taking precedence over sustainability on a mass scale, and few industries are proving this more clearly than the agricultural industry. Dominated by conventional and intensive farming methods that degrade the soil, poison the plants, and pollute the seas, today’s agricultural practices are creating deserts for future generations. While natural food stores cannot single-handedly stop this industry from its self-destructive tendencies, their owners are certainly doing their part as individuals to actively support organic farms and natural healing practices.

Health stores tend to be established by people who care about their community’s health, as well as the health of the planet. When choosing which business to enter, they could have chosen a mainstream field and reaped the financial rewards of doing so. Instead, they chose to swim against the tide and do what they believe is right. Therefore, if you have a natural foods store in your area and you agree with its ethical statement, then it might be a good idea to support it whenever possible.