He loved collecting seashells and stacks of National Geographic, The New York Times, and The Denver Post. He also loved adding raisins to his omelets and to every kind of salad. She loved walks on the beach and red lipstick. And she loved papaya juice with dinner to help with digestion, her famously cluttered desk, and Häagen-Daz Rum Raisin ice cream. She loved him and he loved her, and they both loved a good cause. Margaret and Philip Isely were passionate people—they believed in big ideas so wholeheartedly that all the cards stacked against them were just fuel for the fire. That’s how it was when they started Natural Grocers—a mountain of cards stacked against them—but they loved so much they just kept climbing. They had discovered the greatest love of all—good health—and they knew it started with good nutrition. They knew that all the other loves, especially that lifelong, unconditional kind that you have for family, friends, and community, couldn’t be sustained without good health. They researched and experimented and changed and proved for themselves that for the love of health, the food that you eat is essential. They thought it mattered so much that they wanted to make sure it was always affordable for everyone, and this became their mission—to make nutrition education accessible and healthy food affordable so that everyone in their community and beyond would be able to learn about nutrition and afford healthy food so that they could keep loving themselves and their families. They wanted this mission to spread from their neighborhood to the next and the next—a ripple effect that could take the love all the way from a tiny cottage in Lakewood, Colorado to the ends of the earth if possible.

That’s why we’re here, because of their love. It’s why we have Always Affordable^SM Prices and Nutritional Health Coaches in our stores for free health-coaching sessions. It’s why we host nutrition seminars in our communities, so that you can learn and choose for yourself how to best love your health. It’s why we only sell 100% organic produce and pasture-based dairy and 100% antibiotic and hormone free meats. It’s why we keep certain ingredients off our shelves no matter what, and why we’re always scouring our local neighborhoods so that we can curate the best selection of products that adhere to the principles we believe in: clean, authentic, sustainable, wholesome, and health empowering. Please join us this month in celebrating all the kinds of love, and all the reasons for love, starting with the greatest love of all, your health.

P.S. Love itself is good for your health! Even doctors say so. A physician once said, “The best medicine for humans is love.” A patient asked, “What if it doesn’t work?” She smiled and replied “Increase the dose.”

The Isely Family