That's Natural!

The folks at the upper echelons of management at our local food retailer, Vitamin Cottage, have decided to allow the publication That’s Natural! back into their stores.  This is very exciting because it basically proves that YOU, the CONSUMER have the POWER and INFLUENCE to make changes and make sure that you are spending you money with people who care about you.

Thank you SO MUCH to the local-level managers that fought for us, as well as to those of you who took the time to call and write, here are some brief excerpts from some of our avid supporters:

“Why would you not allow local publications to be distributed out of your stores??  You are in a business that is based on healthy lifestyles.  But yet you deny people the option to get educated on sustainable and healthy living??  Sounds like a very foolish decision by your company.  The publication I am speaking in particular about is the “That’s Natural” publication in Pueblo, CO.  I will go elsewhere to get my health items if I can get local publications for healthy living like “That’s Natural”.  So it has been nice doing business with you for years.  I will now give someone else my business.” – Jeff W.

“I was extremely disappointed to find out that Vitamin Cottage will no longer allow local publications to be distributed at their stores.  Although I understand that sifting through the various publications in order to decide which publications to allow for distribution, I thought that you would recognize publications whose missions are shared with the goal of providing health education.  I am speaking, of course, of That’s Natural Publication, which is distributed in Pueblo County.  Many of us readers look for the publication at the only health food store in Pueblo while we shop.  We often also read the publications provided within the store.  We will now be forced to find other sources to pick up our copies of the magazine.  Additionally, I will do my best not to support Vitamin Cottage as long as it clearly does not want to support local businesses.  I agree that you may be inundated with requests to host stands for other newspapers, but rather than creating a sweeping decision, you would do better to allow for local managers to make decisions regarding their stores and the customers they serve.” – Kimberly S.

This week, the loss of one of our primary distribution sites for the That’s Natural! publication was confirmed by the corporate management of Vitamin Cottage.  In spite of a valiant effort by the manager of the Pueblo branch, the store’s parent company, Vitamin Cottage Natural Food Markets Inc. has chosen to include That’s Natural! in their new policy to remove all publications from their stores.  The reason for this change, as relayed to our supportive branch manager, is that the company wishes to avoid distribution requests from companies unrelated to Vitamin Cottage’s products and services.

It is, of course, the company’s right to make this decision.  However, by including That’s Natural! and similar community publications in this ban, Vitamin Cottage is depriving the community of a valued (or so our distribution history would indicate) resource and directly undermining consumer education, one of the “cornerstones of the Vitamin Cottage philosophy.”  The Vitamin Cottage website states that “Education and customer service have always been part of the Vitamin Cottage philosophy.  We believe that in order for people to achieve optimal health, information needs to be easily accessible.”  By creating a sweeping non-distribution policy for their stores, Vitamin Cottage is limiting access to a valuable educational resource about health and wellness, two of the company’s core business values.

We appreciate that dealing with distribution requests can be time consuming for a growing corporation.  However, we would have hoped that this successful homegrown company would have used this opportunity to champion the development of the local business community in Southern Colorado as well as community education about living healthfully.

If you are a resident of one of the affected Southern Colorado communities, a customer in any of the Vitamin Cottage stores in Colorado, Arizona, and Texas, or a supporter of locally-owned businesses and community education initiatives, please consider contacting the Vitamin Cottage corporate office and letting them know what you think about their choice to include That’s Natural! and other community-based publications in their decision.

Submit your comments online.

(877) 986-4600

Vitamin Cottage Natural Food Markets, Inc.
12612 W Alameda Pkwy
Lakewood, CO 80228

And, to whoever is making the decisions at Vitamin Cottage corporate:

I like your honey sticks.  But I like my values more.  Our communities and our consumer dollars support your stores and fuel your company’s growth.  Please don’t make yourself one more place I used to shop.

Sincerely,

Jess Lundie
Editor of That’s Natural!

We have just gotten wind that our local natural foods retailer may take away our stand because of the corporate culture that has not yet ensued here in Pueblo, Colorado. This location happens to be the best distribution location (most publications circulated) for That’s Natural!, our flagship publication at That’s Natural! Marketing.

We do not know the person who has decided that somehow That’s Natural! is causing the store harm (as a matter of fact, it likely helps build their branding), however we do know how it will affect our business if they do indeed decide that we cannot have a stand there.

First of all, the fact that we run out of issues every two months makes us think that the publication is being read and enjoyed by the customers who frequent that store. Why in the world would you take that away from THEM?

Second of all, this has been incredibly helpful and beneficial to us, as a small business, and as frequent visitors (one of us spends about $400/month on groceries) to their store. And we refer quite a bit of business their way.

Now logic would say that this is a win-win. The corporate BS that has now apparently taken hold in this “family-owned-store” says differently.

If they take away the stand, we will disclose the location, the name of the person who has decided this, and ask for you to contact them and tell them that you support free-press, that you support people having access to free information on Sustainability and supporting local businesses, and that you support having a stand there.

And we will see if they really care about the consumer, their customers, and supporting small businesses in this very troubling economic time.