Northwind Natural Foods Co-op Extends Hours

IRONWOOD, MI - Thursday, June 18, 2009 - Northwind Natural Foods Co-op, Ironwood's Downtown grocery store, is changing their hours to better accommodate their customers. Their new store hours will be: Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM;  Thursday and Friday 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM and Saturday 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM.

"The HyettPalma consultants were very thorough in their research for the Ironwood Blueprints program and they had many great suggestions." said Store Manager Eva Smith-Furgason, who is a member of the Downtown Ironwood Development Authority (DIDA) -- the sponsors of the Blueprint initiative,  "One thing we really took to heart was the suggestion for longer hours at downtown businesses. We have decided to extend hours at Northwind Natural Foods Co-op to make it more convenient for our customers. There are several businesses that are already open later - Superior Shoes, Bookworld, Tacconellis, Old Suffolk Ale House and Bale Clock Shop are all open till 6:30 or later. I, for one, am hoping that more businesses will follow suit."

EDITOR'S NOTE: It was brought to our attention that Ben's Place is also open later. Their regular business hours are from 5:30 AM to 6:00 PM, Moday through Friday; 5:30 AM to 4:00 PM, Saturday; and 5:30 AM to NOON on Sundays.

Northwind Natural Foods Co-op is a health food store as well as downtown Ironwood's only grocery store. It has been in business for 30 years. With a strong focus on healthy, wholesome, organic foods and an emphasis on local and regional products, whenever possible, it's the small member owned store that makes a difference. Locally produced goods include: Eggs, fish, honey, and a wide variety of fresh produce.

"The organic produce has had a slow start this season due to the cold weather, but so far we have had local asparagus, rhubarb, radishes, lovage and mixed greens." Smith-Furgason said.

The Co-op also features a wide variety of bulk herbs and spices, grains, quality dairy products, frozen foods, vitamins and health suppliments. Visiting the store is like stepping into the past. Do you remember the old neighborhood grocery stores back when food was still food and you could identify the ingredients on the label? To understand the ingredients of many of today's "new" foods, you need to be a chemical engineer.

Step back into yesterday, today, and you'll have a better tomorrow.