Market for Life Health Food Store Approaches Milestone

Market for Life was organic and healthy before organic and healthy were cool.

Begun when organic grocers and health food stores in the Upstate were virtually unheard of, this year the Taylors store will celebrate its 25th anniversary.

The store, located at 2801 Wade Hampton Blvd., sells health foods along with vitamins and supplements, among other wholesome fare.

“I think what we did exceptionally well was survive,” owner Margaret Griffin told The Greenville News. “That was our big thing, being able to be a viable store for 25 years or 24 years, that we have maintained viability as a store. It doesn’t mean we’ll be viable tomorrow. So far we have been and I’m very grateful for that. That’s kind of the miracle I wonder over every day as I come in to work.”

When the store began, it was unique, one of just a handful of such stores in the Upstate. Now, it is fairly mainstream, with organic foods and goods sold not only in niche stores such as Griffin's, but in mainstream supermarkets and stores as well.

“Back in those days we were the health nuts,” Griffin told the newspaper.

The Organic Trade Association reports on its website, ota.com, that U.S. sales of organic food and beverages have grown from $1 billion in 1990 to $26.7 billion in 2010.

“One of the challenges has been to create a niche for ourselves in a market that has now embraced us, rather than scorned us,” Griffin told the paper.

“It shows a real staying power,” Scott Whelchel, Greenville Small Business Development Center area manager, told the paper. “No doubt, they’ve gone through some changes and they’ve been flexible enough to adapt to changing needs and desires in the customers. It’s one thing to create a great business but to be flexible enough to sustain it takes a different set of skills.”

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