Organic Market Competes With Local Grocers

ROSEANNE HARPER

NANUET, N.Y. – A large, attractive natural foods market, A Matter of Health, has opened here just a fraction of a mile from a Stop & Shop store.

The new store’s owners, Heddy and Nawal Tabet expect to give Stop & Shop serious competition when it comes to organic fresh produce, other natural products, and good customer service.

While the family owns two health food stores in Manhattan, this is the Tabets’ first venture into a NYC suburb, and its largest store, complete with a from-scratch kitchen.

The 26,000-square-foot store, with 14,000 square feet of sales space, sports an all-organic produce department that spans more than 2,000 square feet.

“Produce is definitely our flagship department. We carry not only all-organic, but the produce is also are local or regional,” Heddy Tabet told SN.

He added that he works with four distributors to keep up with the variety of organics he needs, and which, he pointed out, are delivered fresh every morning.

An open, outdoor market look, with skylights, and colorful graphics, plus an easy-to-shop traffic pattern, was created by DY Design, Kings Point, N.Y.

A profile of the new store will appear in an upcoming issue of SN.