New Organica Whole Foods Store for Waterloo
Published:Thursday | October 31, 2024 | 12:08 AMAinsworth Morris/Staff Reporter
The community of Waterloo, St Andrew, has been graced with a new location for the Organica Whole Foods Store.
If you asked the proprietors, Krishna and Abbi-Gaye Phillipps, why they opened another store with approximately 7,000 products on offer and why at 34 Upper Waterloo Road, they would tell you a story about the growth and success of their business at the Orchid Village flagship location, along with the innate desire to bring more wholesome food to families.
Their wellness journey is another which pushed them to want to move beyond offering services at one store. It started over 12 years ago and three years into their marriage, after the two were expecting their eldest, now nine-year-old child. As they became parents, with a strong desire to eat healthier that fervour for fresh, organic foods morphed into a stake in the whole foods business. According to the duo, they agreed that they have always been conscious about their overall health and wellness, so Organica was a natural by-product of their combined wellness journeys.
For Abbi-Gaye, her reasoning for a second store is because of her strong belief in fostering a community of wellness.“It’s really important for us to build this community around wellness. [Everybody] is at different stages on our wellness journey, and, in speaking to our customers from all walks of life, we realise there’s just a need. Everybody wants somebody to reach out to guide them, to help them along the way [with] things that they want to access,” Abbi-Gaye said.
“We found that we had customers who are sick or customers who had ailing parents or friends or people who want to try and be a little more healthy and live a healthy lifestyle and we are here to help everyone along their wellness journey, irrespective of where you are on that journey,” she said.
For Krishna, he believes in the vision of his wife, and he has enough faith in the Organica brand becoming even more successful with two stores now open.
“At Organica, we’re making wellness accessible through a number of means to help our customers have access to a wide variety of products that we have. At Organica, we have the widest selection of whole, natural and organic products to meet your every need. At Organica, we have very informed staff that is here to cater to your needs,” he said.
He also alluded to the new store creating an even greater experience for shoppers. “We wanted to make our products and services more accessible to our customers and create awareness for healthier options,” he said.
Abbi-Gaye says another reason they decided to expand from one location, is for the “newbies on the wellness journey”. Against diving head-first into the process, she deems it will become easier over time.
DESIGNED TO SUPPORT WELLNESS JOURNEY
Organica Whole Foods Store offers whole, natural, and organic foods, along with various health, beauty, and personal care items designed to support every aspect of one’s wellness journey.
“If you’re starting out on that wellness journey, look at that thing that you eat the most and swap it out for the healthiest option available. Don’t try and take big chunks and say, ‘Oh, I’m going to change my whole lifestyle’, so, if you’re a bread person, a cereal person, if you like [to use] flour, try and find healthier alternatives,” she said.
At the launch event on Saturday, there were mocktails for grabs by mixologist, Trevor Luke, and an entertainment line-up with DJ Courtney, DJ Mario and Jadeen ‘Jade’ McGhie.
The entertainment package was coupled with expert advice from Melissa McIntosh, holistic wellness and nutrition coach, who helped to guide and properly advise shoppers on how to conduct tried and tested practices for proper nutrition.
The highlight of both days was the live Smoothie Workshop hosted by Kamila McDonald, restaurateur, nutrition and wellness coach and Organica’s first official brand ambassador, with samples of nutrient- and ‘good fat’-packed smoothies made with items from the store such as WellGood yoghurt, spinach, maca and cacao powder, hemp hearts and coconut milk.