By: Deborah Johnson Wood
It’s more than a grocery store. It’s more than a health food store. And it’s not quite a full-on coffee shop. But The Green Life Market at 944 East Fulton, Grand Rapids, is all of those things. Plus.
Owner Kristine Szurna Bersche, 32, a native Grand Rapidian, moved to Chicago several years ago with a degree in environmental policy and science in hand and became an consultant.
“I went into industrial facilities that were being purchased and I’d look at a chemical and think ‘what a horrible chemical,’” she says. “And those were being put into our hand lotions and cleaning supplies. That shifted me more toward natural foods and green products.”
Ms. Szurna Bersche and her husband, Joel, enjoyed shopping in Chicago’s small neighborhood markets. When they decided to move back home, there wasn’t anything like that in town, so they opened one.
Health foods, fair trade coffee, organic teas, ‘green’ cleaning supplies, non-GMO products, and cosmetics not tested on animals are some of the store’s offerings, along with many locally produced products: milk, bread, meat, eggs, goat’s milk soap, cheeses, and produce.
The store’s 1,300-square-feet still have the original hardwood floors (circa 1930s) and tin ceiling. Butter yellow walls and a creamy color on the 13-foot-high ceilings reflect the glow of the light that floods through the southern windows above a small coffee and tea bar in the back of the store. A casual sitting area invites shoppers to take a load off while they enjoy their beverage.
“We’re not really a health food store,” Szurna Bersche says. “We’re more of a ‘green’ store where people can come and learn about healthy products.”
Source: Kristine Szurna Bersche, The Green Life Market
Deborah Johnson Wood is the development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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