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Get Breaking News on your cellJoin the crowd: Yet another food store on Coit Road - Bring your own bag
12:57 PM Mon, Aug 04, 2008 | Permalink |
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September 2008
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I've noticed yet another food store has appeared in my neighborhood. "Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage" has opened its doors in the strip center on the northwest corner of Coit and Campbell in Richardson. Grand opening is Sept. 6, but the soft open gave me a chance to ask the company one question: What were they thinking? What am I referring to? Drive less than 2 miles north from this new store on Coit and you'll pass a SuperTarget, Sam's Club, Super Wal-Mart, and Central Market. Head 2 miles south and you pass a Tom Thumb, yet another Wal-Mart grocery, Kroger's, and Whole Foods Market. (And, btw, an intriguing Middle Eastern grocery called Zituna's on the west side of Coit a bit south of Arapaho that offers an amazing array of halal sausages and salamis, but I digress...) And Sprouts Farmers Market is close enough on Campbell that you could practically hit it with a rock. So what's the niche for this new place? Actually, they have some pretty good answers. Head for the jump to find out. Marketing director Nancy Flynn took my "what were you thinking" question in full stride. Vitamin Cottage is a relatively small, family owned chain that just changed its name to the "Natural Grocers" moniker. It overlaps its offerings with some of the other places on my list of nearby stores: Organics, vitamins, beauty items, bulk flours, foods for the food-sensitive. Nancy walked me through what she says her stores offer that's special: * Pricing. It's a privately owned company that can set its profit margin without worrying about stockholders, she said. So item for item, a shrewd shopper might save some cash. * Quality. Yeah, even Target sells organic produce these days. But Nancy says everything at Natural Grocers is #1 Grade organic. Plus, every item on every shelf has been vetted very carefully by the company. * Nutritionally specific customer service. And this might be how they differentiate in the market, sez I. Every store has a credentialed "nutritional coach" on staff. (The Richardson store is still filling that position.) Which means if you have a food allergy or just went on chemo or have a new pill, or just want to figure out how to eat healthier, you can get a free consult and get information that Nancy says "you can take to your doctor." (Although I note that the store's website includes a long list of homeopathic "products" that any qualified doctor would treat with the contempt they deserve...Freedom of choice and all that.) And oh, yeah: The bags. Like Sam's Club, this store supplies no free sacks. It's a green thing. Plastics and paper all chew up resources and energy and fill landfills needlessly. So the store has huge signs out front -- the size you could read from space -- saying to bring your own bag in with you. When my wife and I went in a week or so ago, they had a special where they gave away a reusable sack with a large enough purchase. The website, btw, is a lot more than just a place to locate stores and buy stuff. It's got nutritional info and news and some history about the company.
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Comments
Posted by Anthony @ 7:04 PM Mon, Aug 04, 2008
This store is amazing for those who treasure quality and price. You don't have to worry about
whether the products are organic or regular: everything is organic, everything is at the lowest
price in North Texas. Go and see, there is nothing like it in Texas.
Posted by JHS @ 9:42 PM Mon, Aug 04, 2008
Another grocery store you missed is the Jewish grocer: Milk and Honey in the strip mall where Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market is situated. That location used to be a WingZone restaurant just behind the USPS post office
Posted by Heather Bell @ 10:40 AM Wed, Aug 06, 2008
Vitamin Cottage stands alone in the Natural Grocer world as a pioneer in supporting a wealth of healthy options for the modern day individual. Their priority is customer service, education, and affordable prices. The Customer Service is exceptional, special orders and requests are not discouraged. They have a great handout that describes the “things we don’t carry and why” filled with information about food additives and preservatives that are detrimental to personal wellness and why their stores won’t carry these items. A place where you can get educated answers. I encourage everyone to embrace them as their personal grocer, for they offer very personal service.