When Jason Sebeslav took ownership of The Peanut Mill Natural Foods Market from his mother Antje Wirth in 2009, things were already in good shape.   Established in 1976 by Antje, the St. Catharines, ON store was one of the longest serving and most successful in the Niagara region. 

The following is a letter from CHFA president Helen Long.  Please read it and take appropriate action.

If you were at CHFA East, you were probably hearing a lot of buzz on the show floor about #NHPsAreNotDrugs, our latest campaign in support of the natural health product industry. If you weren’t in attendance, this is a critical issue for our entire industry and we need everyone to help.

CHFA presentation of Bruce Cole accepting the John Holtmann Award in Vancouver.

During its 40 years of business, Foodsmiths has been through a few things.

There was the devastating Tay River flood in the third year of business that wiped out most of the store’s stock, almost dealing the young business a deathblow.

When interest rates climbed above 20 per cent in the early 80s, Foodsmiths founders/owners Claire and Don Smith saw their store perched on the brink of demise.  This happened just after they had purchasing their building.

Sangster’s Franchise has started the year off with a bang and the announcement that three new stores are scheduled to open before July.  “We’re excited to be going into some new markets for us, where the choice of a good selection of natural remedies and organics has been lacking,” explained Wanda Wilson, vice-president of Sangster’s Franchise head office.  One store is opening in Alberta in April, while the other two stores open in Ontario: one in May, and the other tentatively set for June.   

Sangster’s 45th anniversary celebration started off in January and continues with great sales and prizes given away throughout the year.  sangsters.com 

La Boîte à Grains, serving the people of Gatineau, QC for 36 years, has opened its third location in the city.  The newest store – located in Gatineau’s Le Plateau district – measures 10,500 sq. ft., making it the largest of the three.  The second store (opened a few years ago) measures 8,500 sq. ft., while the original store has a 5,000 sq. ft. sales floor, and fully functional 5,000 sq. ft. basement which houses administration, marketing, accounting, prep and online orders.

La Boîte à Grains owner and founder Pierre Menard says it took just over four months (including the two weeks over Christmas holidays) to get the store up and running.  “We took over the building September 15.  Previously, it was a sporting goods retailer.  One of the downsides of taking over an existing retail space is changing it over for your own needs, and that’s what we ran into.  We had to go in and tear down their backroom and re-build it to suit our needs. One thing we had to do was build an insulated room to house our rack multi-pack compressor, which was custom-built for us.  It holds eight compressors, so that if one fails, the others compensate.” 

Besides being bigger than its other two locations, Pierre says the new store also has a stronger focus on health and beauty products and it offers a more elaborate food selection.  “While we do offer food in our other locations – sandwiches, soup, wraps, etc. – our new store is set up to prepare and offer full meals-to-go. We want to do more of this in the new store.”

Also new is an exclusive consultation room for the store’s naturopathic staff to have one-on-one sessions.  “We want to give more service, more than just consulting in the aisle,” explained Pierre.  “The room is for those customers who want to go deeper in improving their health.  They can book a meeting with one of our professionals on staff.”  •

Grocery Headquarters Magazine has again selected Eden Foods as a winner of the magazine’s Selling Wellness Trailblazer Award for 2016.

The awards recognize innovation within the wellness category and are designed to honour those companies and organizations that have had the most impact on the industry. Grocery Headquarters’ editorial team used a number of criteria in reviewing candidates by selecting companies that value and exhibit a strong commitment to innovation, creativity, transparency and sustainability.

This is the sixth time Eden Foods has been awarded a Trailblazer Award by Grocery Headquarters. 

Although the annual CHFA West conference and trade show is being held a bit later in the spring this year, the industry can be assured of one thing; it will be well worth the wait.  The tagline – Showcasing Innovation, Inspiring Retailers – sets the stage for what you can expect. And with the show floor already more than 90 per cent sold, retailers can be assured that there will be lots of new and exciting products to explore. The conference portion runs May 12 and 13, while the trade show floor is open May 14 and 15.

New this year, CHFA has partnered with the Rising Stars Leadership Group to bring an executive education forum to the conference program.  This forum will feature content developed specifically for retail managers in the natural foods industry and will be an exclusive offering for CHFA members.  In addition to the forum, which will run on May 12, the conference program on May 13 has incorporated a robust line-up of speakers and topics that will help retailers to excel in a very competitive marketplace. Topics will include customer service, merchandising, employee performance management and so much more. 

Watch for more details in the CHFA West show issue coming in the May-June issue of CNHR.  Until then, regular updates on the conference and trade show are available at chfa.ca and, if you are not already receiving the show email promotions, send your contact information to info@chfa.ca to get on the list of subscribers. 

For the past two years, Organika has supported Fundamentals for Change (FFC) with donations of supplements, school supplies and clothing.  Most recently, the village of Riverton, Jamaica was the beneficiary of FCC’s efforts to make a difference. 

Print lives!   For those of you who are always looking for the most effective methods of marketing your message to customers, check this out: a recent Canadian study indicates print media is still more effective than digital media.