Consumer awareness fuels store's expansion

SANDPOINT — Next door in Washington state, the battle over a November ballot measure to require labeling of genetically engineered foods is building to a fever pitch.

Nationally, the biotech giant Monsanto has led the fight against such labeling and so far has spent nearly $5 million to defeat the measure in Washington alone. Meanwhile, pesticide companies DuPont and Bayer CropScience have chipped in close to $4 million between them in the attempt to kill GMO (genetically modified organisms) labeling in the Evergreen State.

At present, pending legislation or upcoming GMO labeling ballot measures have been introduced in 26 states. Although lawmakers are skittish about the issue, a New York Times poll released in late-July showed that 75 percent of Americans said they were concerned about genetically engineered foods and 93 percent supported mandatory labeling for those products.

Here at home, one grocery store has been both labeling and touting its inventory of non-GMO products for some time. Perhaps not coincidentally, that same business has seen explosive customer growth since it opened in a tiny storefront on Main Street in 1997.

This month, Winter Ridge Natural Foods Market will celebrate its “grand re-opening” after yet another expansion — this one doubling the store’s footprint to nearly 10,000 square feet.

“People are so much more aware of what goes into the food they eat,” said Winter Ridge owner Greg Prummer. “The natural foods industry is growing at about 10-15 percent a year — and it’s because of that awareness.”

Prummer’s store, which first opened in a 1,400-square-foot space and has sequentially moved into all three former retail slots of its current building at 701 Lake St. after moving there in 2000, has outperformed industry growth.

“We’ve been growing rapidly for several years now,” he said. “Over the last three years, we’ve averaged about 20 percent.”

Prummer — whose store slogan is: Shop Outside the Box — has enlarged every department at Winter Ridge under the most recent expansion. The grocery section is 25 percent bigger than before. Bulk foods have grown from 140 items to 208, including a separate gluten-free bulk foods area. New supplement and cosmetic lines have been added to the health and beauty department, with an emphasis on brands that contain no fillers or chemicals. Produce, like the rest of the store, now has wider aisles, more signage and better lighting.

The in-house bakery has begun offering artisan breads, wedding cakes and gluten-free baked goods and inside seating has been added to the deli, which is known for making all menu items from scratch, including sauces and dressings.

One of the more surprising additions to the expanded version of Winter Ridge is a fresh meat counter with an in-house butcher. The meat counter, which takes custom orders for special events and holiday cuts of meat, has been doing extremely well, according to the store owner.

“Only about 30 percent of our customers are actually vegetarian,” he said. “Our customers who do eat meat want to know that it’s free of hormones and antibiotics and that it has been fed GMO-free grains.”

While doubling in size might seem like a gamble in most business circles, Prummer has learned that the Sandpoint market is uniquely in tune to the correlation between food and health.

“The buzz has been really strong,” he said. “I’m honestly surprised that there are so many people — new people — coming in all the time,” he said.

“You go to some other communities and they’re having trouble supporting even one natural foods store,” Prummer added, counting off Winter Ridge, Truby’s Health, Yoke’s and Super 1 as local options that all stock supplements and natural food items. “I’ve enjoyed growing the business and putting back into so it keeps evolving. And every time we grow or make a change, the community has been there to support it.”

Along with expansion has come a bigger pool of employees, Prummer added.

“We’ve had to staff up to where we now have 40 full- and part-time employees,” he said. “We’re in an industry where customers have a lot of questions and we’re here to answer those questions, so we definitely staff heavier than a normal grocery store.

Winter Ridge Natural Foods Market is open from 8 a.m.-8 p.m. seven days a week.

“And we’re actually thinking about opening at 7 a.m., because of people who want to swing by in the morning to pick something up on their way to work,” said the owner. “We’re thinking like a destination grocery store, not just a little vitamin store that also happens to sell groceries.”

The store’s grand re-opening celebration will take place on Sept. 27-28, with free samples in the deli, bakery and meat departments and displays from local vendors, along with raffles, giveaways and kid’s activities.

For information call (208) 265-8135 or visit online at: www.winterridgefoods.com.