Love Whole Foods revamps Ormond Beach store

Ormond Beach Observer
Business

In a time when consumers are paying close attention to what they put on the dinner table, an Ormond Beach family-owned grocery store has strengthened its dedication to give the community more healthy food options by carrying out a long-awaited renovation.

Love Whole Foods, which has been open since 1991, remodeled its Ormond Beach location in early August. Owner Mitch Booth flew out to California to study the way other organic grocery stores set up their stores, gaining ideas for what he wanted to do here. The project had been in the works for about two years, and Booth said he always knew that when it was time to go forward, the renovation would go hand-in-hand with doubling produce availability.

“We just bit the bullet," Booth said.

Renovation efforts took just one week. Love Whole Foods received new produce refrigerators — the old ones were removed and replaced in one night — as well as added a new checkout counter for the deli alone, which was also reworked to be à la carte.

A new covered sit-down café area was also added to the front of the store. And in accordance to Love Whole Food's mission to conduct business locally, Booth contracted Bomar Construction Inc., of Ormond Beach, to do the work.

“Local is not some advertising gimmick for us," Booth said.

Love Whole Foods is also coming up on its 28th-anniversary next Valentine's Day (the store will be hosting "Local Love Week" from Feb. 4 to 10), so for Booth, the renovation could not have happened at a better time. Business has even picked up since the project was completed, he said.

“I feel like I’m about 20 pounds lighter," Booth said. "There were so many balls that we had to juggle, and then obviously, it’s a

business."

Now, Love Whole Foods is focusing on the next part of its mission: educating the public.

At 7 p.m., Friday, Nov. 30, Stephanie Seneff, a senior research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, will present a free wellness seminar based on her research linking genetically modified organisms and glyphosate to diseases.

Booth said the key is raising awareness that food is medicine, and that's one of the reasons Love Whole Foods supports organic produce and food items free of artificial flavors, colors and chemical preservatives.

“We’ve always prided ourselves on being able to give a solution," Booth said.