If you wonder how to use linden leaves or have a hankering for adzuki beans in your chili, a trip to MaMa Jean’s Natural Market should be in your future.
The hip natural foods emporium has been a Springfield icon and destination for trendy foodies since 2002. Foot traffic in its three stores has marched steadily upward since the first opened on South Campbell Avenue, thanks to people educating themselves about what’s in their food and searching for healthier alternatives to the processed foods oftern found in conventional grocery stores, say co-owners Diana Hicks and Susie Farbin.
“People are becoming more conscious of what they are eating and purchasing,” Farbin says.
The vision to sell natural foods started in the 1970s, in Ava, with Farbin’s mom Jean, who started Jean’s Healthway by selling bulk grains out of her basement. Farbin, who worked in the store, noticed customers were driving from Springfield.
“I thought, ‘Hmm, they must need this type of store if they are willing to drive all this way,’” she says.
In 1996, she met Hicks and shared her idea.
Springfield shoppers have been receptive. In 2013, a third MaMa Jean’s opened on East Sunshine Street, joining the flagship store and a second store that opened in 2008 on East Republic Road.
“We opened our first store before it was trendy and cool to be local,” Farbin says.
She notes the “trend” of eating healthier, locally sourced foods is catching on, with area grocers now offering whole, bulk, organic and natural foods.
“Major grocery stores now want a piece of the pie also,” she says.
To keep MaMa Jean’s offerings on the cutting edge, Hicks and Farbin travel to trade shows from San Francisco to Baltimore to Orlando.
When not traveling to trade shows or between their three stores, they focus on giving back to the community.
Initiatives range from placing canisters at registers to receive customer donations for distribution to local charities, to sponsoring charity events.
“It’s a philosophy I grew up with, you give back to those who give to you,” Hicks says. “Susan and I agreed early on we need to give back to the community that supports us. In turn, helping different organizations gives us more exposure. It’s a full-circle kind of thing.”
With revenues growing from $11 million to over $18 million in the past three years, community support of MaMa Jean’s is evident. Staff grew from 92 to 169 in the same period.
Hicks says MaMa Jean’s employees make the company dynamic.
“I would have to say, and I’ll get choked up, that they are the most dedicated, talented, caring … I just can’t say enough about them,” she says.
Farbin says dedication is a result of caring about staff, noting a happy employee makes a great employee and that makes a happy customer.
“We want shopping here to be a pleasant experience, not another chore,” Farbin says.
“We want it to be like Cheers, where everybody knows your name,” Hicks adds.
“For a lot of our long-timers, we really do know their name,” Farbin says. “Or if we don’t know their name, we know what they eat.”[[In-content Ad]]
Moseley’s Discount Office Products was purchased; Side Chick opened in Branson; and the Springfield franchise store of NoBaked Cookie Dough changed ownership.
