Valley’s first Natural Grocers opens Brownsville location

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The first Natural Grocers location in the Rio Grande Valley held its grand opening in Brownsville on Jan. 22, with a few people even camping out overnight in freezing weather to be first in line.

The Brownsville Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting and welcome ceremony for the new store, located at 515 Morrison Rd. in Las Tiendas Plaza, followed by a check presentation to the RGV Food Bank.

Katie Macarelli, director of public relations for the company, estimated that around 300 people were standing in line waiting for the doors to open. The gift cards for the first 150 customers went fast, and handmade Ecuadorian lunch bags for the first 500 were gone within half an hour, she said. The store was still welcoming a steady stream of customers by mid-morning.

“It was such a great turnout, and honestly, everybody was so friendly and excited and (gave us) a warm welcome,” she said.

Margaret and Philip Isely started Natural Grocers in Golden, Colorado, in 1955, with the aim of increasingly the availability of affordable, nutritious food and dietary supplements. Vitamins and supplements are still a major aspect of the business, along with organic produce and other food items.

“I think we have something like 80,000 SKUs of vitamins and supplements,” Macarelli said. “Also, what is very different about us is our standards are truly very, very high. If you see it on our shelves it’s gone through so many vetting processes.

“You know that when you come here you’re getting the real thing, and the people that can tell you about it too. We have a free nutritional health coach that works here all the time. And that person, her name’s Vanessa, she does a lot of community outreach, so you might see her teaching a class on nutrition at a local elementary school or 5K.”

Natural Grocers also features an area for nutrition classes, recipe demonstrations and the like, a space that can be reserved by scout troops or other local organizations for free, Macarelli said.

Brownsville’s is the company’s 24th location in Texas and 168th in the United States, she said. The company has stores in 21 states, though none in California or the East Coast. Natural Grocers is scheduled to open its 25th Texas store in Waco in February.

Natural Grocers locations feature a relatively compact sales floor compared to conventional grocery stores (Brownsville’s is roughly 13,000 square feet) partly for environmental reasons, but also so staff can answer questions on every item in the store and customers can get in and out more quickly, she said.

The store carries many items that are found in conventional stores, though also many items that aren’t, Macarelli said, adding that her daughter got her hooked on Natural Grocers before she ever went to work for them.

As for why the company decided it was time for a Brownsville location, Macarelli said it was a very deliberate decision.

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“We run the numbers,” she said. “We look at the area. We look at the demographics. We look and see is there anything out there like us. And in some places, sure, there might be a Whole Foods down the street or there might be a Sprouts. In this area, there isn’t anything, so we have been looking to expand further south to Brownsville for probably 8-10 years.”

The nine months or so it took to actually get here was an “easy, streamlined process,” Macarelli said.

“You could tell the city wanted us,” she said. “Challenges arise in any place, but … you could tell folks were really working to get us here and get us here quickly, which is nice,” she said.

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