A Paradise for Conscious Consumers
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People Make the Difference at Return to Eden
Atlanta’s Return to Eden is more than a health food store. Sure, their produce is organic and they’ve got all kinds of top-quality supplements, along with special items for gluten-free, macrobiotic, vegan, raw food and kosher diets. he difference is the personal attention and advice you’ll get from any of a half dozen department managers with different areas of expertise. They each truly care about the health of every customer. The store was started in 1993 by Wendy Saul and remained a family business until 2008, when it was purchased by Gershon Shusterman, who lives in California. General Manager Marty Karon says, “We are here to promote and to aid people in keeping healthy by providing clean food and supplements that promote their health. Everybody who works here feels pretty passionate about that.”
Of the 7,000-square-foot store that shares a shopping center with Publix, Karon says, “The demographics of Atlanta have hanged. A lot of the mainline stores have introduced an organic line, but we all find our niches. We really excel in customer service. People come in here because they have problems.”
He explains, “One woman came in who was diagnosed with breast cancer. She spent two hours here because she wanted to go the all-natural route before going through chemo. This is not unusual; we have very knowledgeable people working here. People enjoy talking to the staff because they can really help them; they know the body. We can’t prescribe, but can suggest things. A lot of the time, we get physicians sending people in to see us.”
About special, restricted diets, Karon elaborates that, “We want people to have alternatives that are good-tasting, as well. We just had a lady come in and say, ‘I’m so glad you people are here, because I have two teenage daughters who have just been diagnosed with celiac. They want to have fun and have friends over, but they don’t want to be weird. You guys have the greatest tasting gluten-free products that nobody knows about, and now we’re aware of it.’”
Karon’s own motivation is simple. “The greatest reward is when a customer comes in and they say to me, ‘The gluten empowerment that I’ve gained here has really helped me.’ I get satisfaction from helping people watch their health, like when someone comes in and says, ‘Hey you’ve got a great thing here; I’ve lost some weight and I’m off all my blood pressure medicine now.’ Those are the things that keep me going. I want to help people; they’re aware of their bodies, they struggle with these things. If we help them with the information and the products, I feel good.”
Management doesn’t see any reason for big changes soon, but eventually wants to expand into areas of East and South Atlanta that are underserved. For now, Karon says “Our biggest challenge is letting people know we’re here and what we carry. Even though our tag line is, ‘Your neighborhood organic market,’ some people are still not sure what it is.
“Our prices are competitive. I think we have some of the best prices in town. Many times, we can partner with our vendors, tell them what we’re about and they cut a deal with us that we pass along to our customers. Of course, organic is always going to be higher than conventional, because the costs are higher for the farmer.
“For produce, there are three big distributors. But if we can, and the local Georgia farmers know this, if they are organic, we will stock their products, too. We want to use them as much as possible. We get honey from a couple of local sources in Georgia, because we know the more local you are with the source of the honey, the better it is for the allergies. When we can buy local here in Georgia, we do.”
Return to Eden often helps out with nonprofit or school projects by donating products, like juice or a walking event, and staff sometimes will give presentations in schools. In the store, informational sessions are held by vendors, as well as a local chiropractor/nutritionist and another practitioner who gives monthly free blood analyses. As Karon describes, “He pricks their finger and he has a computer that he runs it through and can see all the junk that’s in their blood and recommend things to take it out.”
Karon puts the Return to Eden philosophy this way. “We try to always keep the customer in mind. If someone’s here before we open and they’re on the way to work and they need something, I’ll open up. I can’t do that in a corporate world.”
Return to Eden is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Mon.-Sat., and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sun., at 2335 Cheshire Bridge Road. For more info call 404-320-3336 or visit Return2Eden.com.
