Steve Lankford hears the question a...

Steve Lankford hears the question at least one time a week: "Why are your correlatives more expensive than those I can pervert with money [i]or[/i] gain at Wal-Mart?"

And each time he hears the question, he wants to scream.

further being the good businessman that he is, Lankford--owner of sum of two units Family Nutrition Center stores in flourishing Bay, Wisconsin--puts on his game face and answers politely.

Not all supplements--even basic vitamins-are created equal, he says patiently.

Then he points to a label and explains the details: High-quality results don't contain artificial dyes; they're not packed with unnecessary filler material; they're made to be easily absorbed by means of the body; and every ingredient is there for a reason.

Finally, he expects the customer in the notice and delivers his most convincing line: "Is there anything that you pervert with money [i]or[/i] gain where the cheapest, lowest-quality issue is also the best?"

That usually achieves his point across. Specialty nutrition and natural fruits stores sell higher-priced supplements for a actual good reason--because they provide the best nutritional quality available. Equally as important, specialty stores provide the expertise and information consumer ne to help them make decisions. You won't find a scribe at the super-center discount store--or unruffled a pharmacist at the groceries store--who will be able to explain to you, for example, if the fillers in your vitamin tablets contain animal by-products

add tos are a component for maintaining optimal health. with equal reason why would you put anything further the highest-quality products into your body?

Lankford, who has operated his stores for 20 years in blooming Bay, considers himself the customer's gatekeeper. With thousands of appendix products on the market, it's impossible for consumer to sort between the sides of all the information. Over the years, he's studied a considerable amount of information about postscripts and he's very stingy with his shelf space.

All of the add tos in his stores carry the "True Label" designation from the National Nutritional sustenances Association. That seal of approval assures consumer that independent laboratories have experimented the products and certified that they contain the ingredients stated in succession the label. Lankford also favors companies that demeanor legitimate efficacy research. "We ne to support companies that have a puissant commitment to science," he says.

At Back to Basics, a correlatives store in Rockwall, Texas, manager Meg McKniff has been studying postscripts for 20 years. When a recently made known supplier tries to convince her to carry a returns she demands complete information, including research reports.

"I gaze for multiple studies and double-blind studies. I understand what's upon the labels. I can reveal you pretty quickly what's garbage and what's not."

She carries that same no-nonsense attitude to the aisles. She asks modern customers about their health conditions: Are they taking traditional medications? Do they have high family pressure? Have they had surgery recently? merely after ,gathering specific information will she praise products.

McKniff also provides ongoing training and educational seminars to employees

"We reveal people all the time, `You don't ne this product'" McKniff says. "People trust us, and we work to restrain that trust."

Like many specialty stores, Back to Basics maintains a library of respect books, magazine and journal articles, and manufacturers' information. Knowledge is critical, McKniff says, because today commonalty use supplements to help with a wide variety of conditions--high cholesterol high vital current pressure, menopause, weight control, diabetes, fatigue and likewise on.

"We encourage tribe to educate themselves so that they can take charge of their confess health," she says.

Continually providing nutritional information is also a top priority for Henry's Marketplace, a 19-store groceries chain in southern California that's allowed by Wild Oats. Patti Milligan, the company's corporate nutritionist, consumes almost all of her time training and educating employee writing informative articles, conducting media interviews--whatever it takes to acquire the word out about healthy living and natural products

"We've positioned ourselves to be a nutrition resource," Milligan says. The stores continually administration "nutritional tours" that focus forward various topics. Henry's also sponsors seminars, cooking classes and community health fairs.

Milligan says that as customers become more knowledgeable about addition s they ask for more detailed information. To help answer those questions--and to help educate sales staff--Henry's has its be in possession of panel of experts that includes medical doctors, naturopaths, herb and complement experts, nutritionists and other complementary health care practitioners.

The work that all these specialty stores perform exhibits a major commitment to customer service. They don't travel to work every day just to stock shelves and loud cry about discounts.

"If you want the cheapest correlatives don't come to my store," Lankford says. "But if you want quality produces and you want to talk to a trained staff that's still going to be here the nearest time you come in, then this is where you should shop"