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Berry’s Whole Foods offers a new place for healthy options
Berry’s Whole foods offers wide variety
By Kalea Hall
AUSTINTOWN
Mary Jo Berry started to eat healthy 30 some years ago because she had a crush on her now-husband, Rick Berry.
She would go to the health food store he owned on Hillman Street in the South side of Youngstown to buy some healthy food and get to know Rick more.
Now, the Berrys, along with their son, Rob, have opened their own health food store/pharmacy, Berry’s Whole Foods at 4405 Mahoning Ave. in Austintown.
“It’s exciting for us,” Mary Jo said.
The three are noticeably excited about the start of their new business venture – even though they all have worked hard the past few days to make sure the new store was ready to open Monday this week.
The store includes The Medicine Shoppe pharmacy, which Rick has owned for 18 years. Rick, a pharmacist, worked at the pharmacy before he purchased it. The pharmacy has been in the same Austintown shopping area at the corner of Mahoning Avenue and Raccoon Road.
For years while Rick had the pharmacy, he and Mary Jo wanted to add a health food shop to their business.
“As a pharmacist, many of the health problems we have are due to the quality and quantity of the food we eat,” Rick said. “We need to think about what we put in our mouth. We need to be smart about what we buy. A lot of
diseases are caused by too much food and too much junk food.”
The Berrys saw a need in the community for a place for healthy eaters, vegans, vegetarians and others to find items they can’t find at other places.
“There’s a community out there that needs this type of food,” Mary Jo said. “There’s a ton of people who need gluten-free [food]. There’s the vegan community out there, and we wanted to offer food for them.”
Last summer is when the Berrys realized the store could become a reality. The location they found is in the same plaza where The Medicine Shoppe was located. Getting the shop ready was just a small part of the process. The Berrys also went on a search to find what foods and other products to carry.
“There were a lot of [products] we knew about,” Rob said.
One of those product lines is Amy’s Kitchen, a top frozen-food brand that offers vegetarian meals.
The Berrys have most of their shelves stocked with the healthy stuff and green house products, but they have left other shelves empty for their customers to tell them what they want to see in the store.
The store will sell bulk food, too. Berry’s Whole Foods has the capability of grinding wheat berries for flour and any other product that is dry and hard such as lentils and rice to make into a powder form.
In the future, the three plan to have a cafe and eventually offer cooking classes.
“As we grow, we will be able to offer more,” Mary Jo said.
Berry’s Whole Foods is open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and closed on Sunday.