What do you like about your favorite health (or other) food store?
I m prompted to ask this because in little Ellsworth, Me we have a wonderful health food/ wine store. It is John Edwards on Maine St. It is a nice health food store, clean, well lit, helpful staff, local art on the walls, etc., a nice health food store. But what makes it special is at the front of the store, at the bottom of the stairs . There is a sizable art gallery/wine shop/w/ beautiful outdoors furniture furniture for sale. It is a place of solitude and beauty, a respite from the daily hustle and bustle of daily life; no one else is ever down there. When my wife and I shop there, weekly,sometimes we just go downstairs to browse the art & wine, other times we get a snack; an organic brownie, a gourmet sandwich, bread & cheese or other. We sit on a lovely marble table & bench in this beautiful peaceful place and absorb the art and preside over the tastefully presented, widely spaced racks of wine; it is almost religious (sometime we open W/out permission, a just purchased bottle of wine for "communion"). For such a small rural town, we are lucky to have a shop like this and I just want to voice my gratitude. I'm not connected in any way w/ the store and the owner does not know about this post (And I hope he doesn't because he might find out about our wine sipping and put a stop to it.), I just feel this way about the place, it is special.
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maria lorraine
Aug 7, 2009 10:54 PM
Spices in bulk, so I can buy as little or as much as I like...cheap.
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re: maria lorraine
Passadumkeg
Aug 8, 2009 03:49 AM
Putting 5 kids through college, we live on their bulk foods; 40 lb bags of pintos, black beans, garbonzos, brown rice, and......beer & wine making supplies.
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maplesugar
Aug 7, 2009 09:14 PM
Sounds like a real gem Passadumkeg, Thanks for sharing (here's hoping the owner doesn't mind the occasional sip...although if he were to permit that sort of thing he'd likely get fined or worse).
I wish our local health food stores were like yours...unfortunately they're a bit more corporate. There are three chains in town, two of which are local... one even raises it's own cattle close by...but you pay a premium at all three. The more peaceful food shopping lately has been a family road trip to a few local farms. My citified kids (7, 4&1/2 and 3) haven't spent really any time (aside from a class field trip) on a farm - they are still taking about picking peas. We're about to relocate closer to the farms we visited, so I'm hoping we'll make it there more regularly.
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This sounds very nice, I would like to visit sometime. My husband's Mom is from Maine and they visit occasionally, maybe I will go with them eventually. I know that feeling you are describing about this place, I have had that feeling in certain places. A beautiful garden, a tasteful antique store, a beautiful museum. Great post! =)
