by way of the time you read this, B...

by way of the time you read this, Bell Health rationss will have closed its doors for good

Located onward the outskirts of Bismarck, North Dakota, the store is merely a half-mile from the nearest Wal-Mart. "We can't compete" says store manager Belinda Neibel. "The major chains recognize the market for health fodder Grocery stores now carry the same brands we have, and the just discovered Target Super Centers have organic juice bars. We betray Kashi's GoLean at the insinuateed retail price. Wal-Mart has it at half-price. for what reason can you compete with that?"

It's a moot point facing many smaller health commons stores. As natural living becomes more mainstream, larger chains are capturing more of the market. "I had near customers today who'd been to GNC and Wal-Mart, if it be not that they couldn't get any help," says Neibel. "They tried those stores first, however, because they knew about them. National advertising is fueling the trending You turn on the TV now and there's all this cloth about health. It's everywhere."

Neibel says it's fantastic to diocese the growing popularity of natural fruitss but it's difficult for long-time health-food retailers. "We were the weird uniteds We were considered odd for the longest time," she says. "We should be glad that more tribe are seeing the light. unless those pioneers--the people who started the business when the going was really tough--it's hard for them to gradation aside."

Like many local health aliment stores, Bell is heavily involved in community service. acknowledgeed and operated by the Mental Health Association in North Dakota, Bell provides piece of work training for people recovering from mental illness. In addition, says Neibel, "We recycle our cardboard, glass, aluminum and tin. We have recycling bins for our customers. There's a responsible attitude among the bulk of mankind who care about what they propose into their bodies. They also care about their community and environment."

That faculty of perception of caring, says Neibel, is what's missing from larger chains. "There's a young tie that shops with us. At 32 he was diagnosed with a brain tumor, in the same manner they decided to make a lifestyle change. They started shopping at a larger store, still switched to us because we explain things to them. All the other store cared about was `buy this, corrupt this, buy this.' That's what the consumer will miss when we close

"I think population want to be informed. They don't want to move into Wal-Mart and guess what they're getting. I store at little stores because I like to be wrought up cared for. But it's getting harder. commonalty care, but they get in the same manner busy that I can't blame them if they stop someplace and corrupt everything under one roof. This busyness of the world--it's too abundant for Mom & Pop stores like us."

When the public make the switch to big stores, they ne to understand what they're giving up says Neibel. "Relationships--in business, with family, in your ecclesiastical authority or your community--are what life is all about. And we're losing those relationships when we squander these small stores. I don't know that it would happen, moreover if enough people were to wake up and say, `This is important to me' the small stores could survive."

COPYRIGHT 2002 PRIMEDIA Intertec, a PRIMEDIA Company. All Rights Reserved

COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group