New Health Food Store in Den Haag

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In Den Haag, members of the Sri Chinmoy Centre run a Health Food Store, which recently moved to a new, bigger store. The new health food store has a mixture of organic food, fresh to-go meals, smoothies and juices, and aims to offer an integral approach to healthy living.

The manager, Pradeep, kindly shared with us some thoughts about the new store.

Question: Tell us a little about the move to a new shop

/Pradeep/ We had been two years in the old location which was right across the street but the building was not any more suitable for the needs of a modern day health food store. We had many new ideas and great capacities within the team of workers that couldn't really come to fruition there because of lack of space. We decided we would search for a bigger location, and after two years we got this opportunity for a new bigger location right opposite the street, not even ten meters away. With the help of designers, such as Bikash, Sumangali, Chandrakanta and Drisalu we worked on developing a new concept for our Madal Bal shop - Happy, Healthy, Tasty.

The idea is we want to present healthy living in a new holistic way:

Happy: Meditation workshops
Healthy: Nutritional therapists, lectures on health, food supplements.
Tasty: Tasty organic foods grown with concern for mother earth.

In the new store we have a first floor where we give meditation classes and which is rented by different health therapists. Each Saturday morning we have a free lecture on some health related topics; it can be anything from making your own vegan cakes to fighting winter depression with essential oils or the chemistry of amino acids.

The main part of the business of course still is the organic groceries and some fresh items we make ourselves.

Question: What do you hope to offer customers?

/Pradeep/ We want to offer our customers an integral and holistic approach to health which nourishes all the parts of our being. We feel that healthy living needs healthy food, meditation and maybe some personalized therapy when the balance is lost. Apart from that we feel that our service to our customers also involves ourselves and how we look upon ourselves and treat our customers and our colleagues. We hope to share our hearts. In the way we serve our customers and work together as a team we hope to be an inspiration for people and offer a kind of unspoken solution for harmonizing the inner and the outer life. Our motto is: Lifting up the world with a oneness-heart.

Question: Why do you like working with health foods?

/Pradeep:/ In a way I never chose consciously to work with health food, though I have a great love for nature. I studied geology and normally that doesn't mean that you will work in a health food store one day. However, when I concluded my studies 15 years ago I had the opportunity to work full time in the Madal Bal store where I had already worked during my studies. At the time I worked there one day a week just because they needed some help. Always when I came home from a day at work I felt tremendous purity and fulfilment even in my physical body. I was very happy to come and work there full time once I finished my studies. My interest for health food was basically secondary to my interest for spirituality but I have come to like it very much over the years! I had some small health issues and in trying to solve those you could say I have become very interested in health foods myself - e.g. trying out the latest superfoods and theories on how and what to eat and combine. It gives me joy and it helps me to be healthier. It's a joy to share this information again with the customers. In that sense a health food store is a nice combination of physical labour and a service to the people where you can also use your heart and mind. People are very grateful when you help them with true warmth and concern and also give them good advice and good products which help them to feel better.