Partly Cloudy, 75°
Weather sponsored by:

The Granary preaches health food, community message in ornate building

By Nick Blank nick@claytodayonline.com
Posted 5/18/22

ORANGE PARK – An elegant house from the 1880s that recalls the early days of Kingsley Avenue is home to a health food store that has been advocating healthy living for more than 40 …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Don't have an ID?


Print subscribers

If you're a print subscriber, but do not yet have an online account, click here to create one.

Non-subscribers

Click here to see your options for subscribing.

Single day pass

You also have the option of purchasing 24 hours of access, for $1.00. Click here to purchase a single day pass.

The Granary preaches health food, community message in ornate building


Posted

ORANGE PARK – An elegant house from the 1880s that recalls the early days of Kingsley Avenue is home to a health food store that has been advocating healthy living for more than 40 years.

Vitamins and healthy food line the shelves of the Granary in what was used as a drawing or living room. Toward the back of the property is a solar-powered building with a Zen garden meant for yoga classes and workshops.

At about 3,000 square feet and seven rooms, the structure has four fireplaces and its original roof is still there. It used to be a home for the caretakers at Robert Yerkes’ Monkey Farm, which is a stone’s throw away.

The Granary’s owner, Nelson Hellmuth paced the property, pointing out its quirks like its narrow hallways and well-kept exterior. His store has been in operation since 1979, but the building’s construction predates the store’s arrival by about 102 years.

“It’s been a fun adventure,” he said. “There have been a lot of changes.”

Hellmuth said the home's historic presence lends itself to the shopping experience. He said the home and store model reminds him of a general store where the owner would live upstairs. The upper floors are used as offices.

“In the early days of health food stores, a lot of hippies you know would do that, get an old house or something, have a health food store downstairs and live upstairs,” Hellmuth said.

It’s a common thought that processed foods or eating at fast-food chains are cheaper than buying produce at a health food store, yet not if the family buys healthy food in bulk, Hellmuth added. Commonly-held beliefs can be challenged, and unhealthy eating also leads to numerous doctor’s visits or unexpected costs, Hellmuth said.

“I wanted a place where people could eat natural and organic foods that they could eat with their families and stay healthy,” he said. “If a family wanted to, they could save money, which is something most people don’t correlate with health food stores.”

Where other businesses and services have larger operations, the Granary offers knowledge of cooking and what to buy. Local knowledge helps a smaller business thrive, Hellmuth said. He said he would introduce himself to other health food stores in the region because the area could always use more of them.

“It was really that small business and family atmosphere that led me to think we could make it,” Hellmuth said. “I tell employees and managers, everybody who walks through the door is a friend.”