The benefits of shopping locally are endless. From lowering your carbon footprint to supporting your local suburb or town, smaller, independent businesses are the backbone of our community.
To celebrate this notion, we’ve decided to kick off an exciting new Shop Local series that will look at the benefits of shopping locally in more detail, as well as profiling some of the stores that stock Boody and telling their interesting and unique stories.
To kick-off, we caught up with Kim, the Whole Health Womanager, who helps manage Jackson Whole Grocer, Jackson, WY.
How did your store open and how has it evolved/grown since then?
The original name of our store was Harvest, it was a small natural food store and then it merged with another store by the name of Food Town and became Jackson Whole Grocer at that point. It is still local and family-owned. Our store has been in 3 locations. Our current location is the largest, most beautiful of the three.
How important is healthy living, and environmental sustainability to your business?
It is quite important to the owner and the employees of Whole Health as well as people throughout the store. Everyone in Whole Health (the wellness department) is incredibly conscious of the environment and healthy living. Our owner and people from our wellness department have teamed up to create recycling initiatives, re-use freezer packs, and other packaging materials and we initiated a composting program. We also have a culls program where food and products from various departments that aren't quite up to snuff to sell are being offered to employees so that we can divert this waste from the landfill while also easing bills of employees. Lastly, we partner with a local company that takes food to the underprivileged in our community at no cost; helping the community and preventing food waste.
How would you suggest all of us make changes to live healthier and more eco-friendly lives?
I think educating ourselves and voting with our dollar is the most effective way to create change. Money talks and where the money flows is where businesses go. I've seen the natural/ organic industry rapidly expand for this very reason. More and more people are wanting the best for themselves, their families and the environment and those businesses that can fill that niche are seeing great returns.
You were one of Boody’s first 5 retailers in the USA – why did you choose to bring us in?
I saw Boody at Expo West many years ago and loved it because Boody is health-conscious and environmentally friendly, my 2 passions! I knew with all the yoga and outdoor enthusiasts this brand would do very well in our town. Also, many of us Jacksonians layer our clothing over Boody as it gets so cold in our environment.
Here at Boody, we feel proud to supply our line to Jackson Whole Grocer. What are your top sellers there? Do you have any top picks from the Boody range?
Boody Bikini Blacks do the best for us, boxers, bamboo bras and leggings do well for us too!
Jackson is no doubt a beautiful and adventure-filled place. What are your top 2 recommendations for anyone visiting Jackson?
For clothes- wear layers, even in the summer when in the mountains. Boody really helps fill the need for layers in a comfortable, breathable way! In terms of favorite things to do, my favorite thing to do is bike (road or mountain) or skate ski in the winter.
What's your favorite part about Jackson Whole Grocer?
I love that Jackson Whole Grocer is local and I'm massively impressed by the employees that are attracted to work here... they are amazing, lovely, smart, capable, talented, free, creative-thinkers since they're not part of a corporation. I also really respect the owner Jeff Rice and appreciate his care for this community and his employees. I've known him for over 8 years and I see him personally evolving and watch how that evolution translates into his business and its a beautiful thing!
