Grand Rapids' Green Grocers

Harvest Health Foods opened its original Grand Rapids location at 1944 Eastern Avenue SE in 1952, 28 years before natural grocery juggernaut Whole Foods Market even existed. “That was the era of white bread and Tang,” says Cathy Atsma, CEO of Harvest Health Foods. “We were considered very strange.”

Henry Diedering, Atsma’s father, sold whole grain bread door-to-door before opening the first Harvest Health Foods with wife Tena. Their daughter Cathy worked alongside her father for 20 years before taking over in 1991. Now the company has 55 employees and three locations: the original store on Eastern Avenue in Grand Rapids, the second store in Cascade, and the newest store in Hudsonville. They recently maximized the space in the Cascade store to include two more coolers, more shelf space for dry goods and additional backroom space for inventory.

“We’re staying healthy in this economy. Our customers prioritize their health.”

Atsma says her parents refused to sell food items with trans fats and high-fructose corn syrup long before it became widely known that they were unhealthy. “We’ve been consistent,” says Atsma. “We select high quality products. It’s not about the latest fad or trend.”

While the growth of organic grocery has slowed this year over previous years, with a slowdown at Whole Foods, the world’s largest retailer of natural and organic foods, and a general expectation that the economic downturn will weaken consumers’ resolve to make value-based choices — such as hormone-free milk, fair trade coffee and cage-free chicken eggs — there is still green grocery growth in West Michigan.

In addition to the Harvest Health Foods expansion, two natural grocery stores have opened in Grand Rapids neighborhoods over the past 15 months. All three of these stores (with a total of eight West Michigan locations between them) tout knowledgeable staffs, locally made offerings and encourage special orders and feedback from customers. And with several the only grocery stores within their respective neighborhoods, all are optimistic about their continued growth and mutual success.

Informed perspective
While working as an environmental consultant in Chicago at the early part of this decade, Grand Rapids native Kristine Szurna Bersche witnessed the mass production of toxin-laden goods such as personal care products with added petroleum. Eager to avoid these types of products as a consumer, she sought out natural and organic offerings. She even took her commitment to sustainable shopping a step further, foregoing the mammoth Whole Foods Market (Chicago is home to three locations) for small natural markets. When she returned to Grand Rapids and opened The Green Life Market in October 2007, she modeled it after the markets she used to frequent.

“I knew there was a demand for it here,” says Szurna Bersche. “Because we are smaller we have that opportunity to talk one-on-one with our customers. I can talk to people about the difference between a cleaning product that uses essential oils versus one that uses fruit enzymes. Then we can move onto personal care products. To some people, paying an extra 50 cents for a tube of all natural toothpaste is worth it, for their own health and for the environment. If you can stay healthy that eliminates your trips to the doctor’s office. That’s why I’m able to weather the (recessionary) storm.”

The Green Life Market is a family business, and Bersche shares the workload with her husband and two sisters. Located at 944 East Fulton St. with an unmistakable yellow awning, it’s nestled between Blue Door Antiques & Design and From The Heart Yoga Center, where Szurna Bersche practices yoga. “I get a lot of exposure,” she says. “East Fulton is traveled more than any other east-west street downtown.”

Her store also gained exposure when she became a participating member of Local First, a non-profit that supports local businesses. Szurna Bersche says her affiliation with Local First has allowed her to network with several local business owners, whose products she now carries in her store. Some of the local items she sells include: Moo-ville dairy products, Green Goodness cleaning products, Little Rooster Bread Company bread, Midge’s Muffins egg-free and dairy-free muffins, Sand Lily Farms grass-fed beef and free-range pasture chickens and Dogwood Farms organic goat cheese and Udderly Wonderful Soap. The Green Life Market also offers Sunday’s Wash, a line of natural detergent that includes diaper wash, baby wash and everyday wash.

Szurna Bersche says she would like to sell even more locally made products. “We try to support as many [local] people as we can because we all get it. We know how tough it can be when you’re first starting off. Especially when you have a good product, we really want to put it out there.”

Her other immediate goal is to set up The Green Life Market online store, which she will begin in January.

A Monroe North Grocery
When Health Hutt general manager Polly Wilson and owner Erik Johnson saw a vacancy at 600 Monroe Ave. NW, formerly Mulick Floral Shop, the partners thought it was an ideal spot for their fourth location. The Muskegon-based company also has two stores in Muskegon and one in Grand Haven. And while Wilson oversees all four, she now spends most of her time at the Grand Rapids location. She has even purchased a condo in the nearby Boardwalk building.

“People are creatures of habit. It’s hard to break into that,” says Wilson of her position as the new organic grocer in town. “The stores in Grand Haven and Muskegon are doing well. They’re thriving.”

Wilson says that since Health Hutt No. 4 opened in March, passersby and neighbors have commented on the friendly atmosphere created by its four employees. The store’s slender aisles make way for rows upon rows of supplements, food items, cleaning products and personal care products. There is even a fresh deli in back, featuring delicacies such as walnut butter and apricot jelly sandwiches, vegan wraps and macaroons. And if they don’t have what you need, Wilson is happy to place a special order.

“All of our stores are different. If we don’t have something at the Grand Rapids store, we may have it at another store, and if we do it will ship the next day,” says Wilson, adding that customers typically buy by the case.

Sara Cosgrove is a freelance writer living in Grand Rapids. She volunteers as a music programmer at WYCE-FM, an independent community radio station. She last wrote for Rapid Growth about local surf rock band The Concussions.


Photos:

Kristine Szurna Bersche of The Green Life Market

Organic produce at Harvest Health on Eastern Avenue

The Green Life Market on East Fulton

The Health Hutt along Monroe Avenue