![]() "My hear t wasn't in it anymore," he explained in the Oregonian in 2000, referring to the fact that General Nutrition Corporation had allowe d him the authority to make decisions he deemed appropriate, while Wi ld Oats set policies at headquarters.įollowing retailing trends, the first New Seasons store had a bakery, a delicatessen, and a salad bar and take-out meal area, including a "Hot Wok," where customers picked from fresh ingredients for a meal c ooked especially for them. Rohter left that job when Wild Oats of Boulder, Colorado, purc hased Nature's then seven-store chain in the spring of 1999. Rohter had worked as a consultant for Nature's and, once the store became an independent subsidiary of Gene ral Nutrition Corporation, as its executive vice-president for three years. Eggert was the pre sident of Pacific Foods, a manufacturer of soup and soy drinks, locat ed in nearby Tualatin, Oregon. The three want ed to create a company that had a "true commitment to its community, to promoting sustainable agriculture, and to maintaining a progressiv e workplace," according to the company's web site.Īll three men were veterans of the grocery business: Amy had owned an other Portland-area chain called Nature's Northwest until he sold it to General Nutrition Corporation in the mid-1990s. ![]() Their plan w as ambitious: To become a key player in the Portland grocery field wi th five stores serving Portland neighborhoods by 2001. Their mission was to make people aware of h ealthy food and the benefits of sustainable agriculture. In 1999 Brian Rohter, Stan Amy, and Chuck Eggert, with the backing of their families and about 50 friends, opened the first New Seasons Ma rket in Portland, Oregon. N ew Seasons also has a socially responsible ethic that permeates every level of its business. About 11 percent of its product mix is produced locally. Approximately two-thirds of each of its six stores' product m ix is natural or organic, while the remaining products are convention al brands. New Seasons Market has carved a niche for itself in the Portland groc ery store market, carrying a wide range of natural and organic produc ts, grown or produced in the Northwest, alongside basic brand-name pr oducts.
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