InTucker Magazine

Mother Nature’s Market

Much of modern life revolves around convenience. Fast food, online shopping and social media can easily take the place of home cooking, visiting local stores and spending time with loved ones. However, there are still people and places in Tucker that recognize the benefits of taking one’s time and giving one’s full attention to the present. Mother Nature’s Market is one such place.

The idea for Mother Nature’s Market came to Stagg Greene’s family in the 1970s. Stagg and his father’s allergies required weekly shots, and they learned about the importance of diet in addressing health concerns. By revisiting their needs, eating healthier meals and taking supplements to offset nutritional deficiencies, Stagg and his father were able to beat their allergies without the shots.

At the time, health food and supplement stores were uncommon. Seeing the positive impact of intentional nutrition on their own lives, the Greene family chose to open Mother Nature’s Market in Tucker.

Mother Nature’s Market has been a staple of Brockett Square since the beginning. “[My parents] were very prayerful and thoughtful about where to go,” said co-owner Stagg Greene. “This place was being built and looking for tenants. My family rolled the dice, and here we are 49 years later.”

“We’ve been very, very blessed.”

Around 20 years ago, Stagg’s parents retired, and he and his wife Amy took over as co-owners. The journey required studying and taking classes in herbalism so the Greenes could better serve their clientele. “We educated ourselves and really tried to be a resource for the customers and the community,” Stagg said. “We’re about relationships first. Sales come down the road.”

When a new customer enters the store, Stagg greets them and asks what they’re searching for and why they want it. Many customers come looking for supplements they’ve seen advertised online. “That’s where, for us, it’s a little different than a lot of other places. A lot of times we will talk them out of what they were originally looking to purchase because it isn’t necessarily a fit for them.”

Fit is an important factor to Mother Nature’s Market. “Everything in here is good, but everything in here is not good for you,” Stagg emphasized. To find out what will help your specific body, Stagg has a four-pronged approach. “Typically we’ll ask for your four top issues that you’re wanting to address,” he said. “Let that list guide you in four key areas.”

The first area is diet, as “there’s no pill in here that can compensate for poor eating.” The second is your level of exercise, “whatever helps you get active and stay moving.” After considering changes to those two, “the third thing would be this supplementation if needed.” The fourth is pharmaceutical assistance, which is between you and your doctor.

“We don’t get involved in taking or not taking your medicine,” Stagg said. “We don’t say this will replace. We don’t use the word ‘cure’ around here.” He considered his words carefully before continuing. “I think you can heal your body from different approaches. We’ve seen people be able to do it. And I’m grateful for lifesaving medicines, lifesaving procedures. We’ve been on the receiving end in our family of that. But I think that the majority of people’s health issues can be addressed by making healthier choices in their diet, and then if they do fall short somewhere, then supplementation. That’s really where we come in.”

Stagg does his best to combat the idea of a customer entering in search of some universal “miracle supplement.” “Someone will be like, ‘I need to do a parasite cleanse.’ That’s a big one right now. And I’m like, ‘let’s step back, slowly peel this off and see if that truly is what you need.’ We’ll sell you whatever you want, but if you’ve got time and you don’t mind, then we’ll go over that.”

When searching for educational materials and reputable supplements, Stagg cautions customers about social media. “There’s a lot of misinformation that’s out there,” Stagg said. “I’m not saying don’t buy anything off of social media, but you just have to be really careful to do your own due diligence.”

When there is so much information online to sift through, how does one begin to educate oneself about herbalism and nutrition? Customers can find free educational materials and signage all around Mother Nature’s Market, and Stagg has his own recommendation of factors to keep in mind during research. “If the first thing you experience [from a source] is about a product, that’s a red flag. They’re caring about the sale and not necessarily about what you’ve got going on.” However, “if it’s a group or a page dedicated to a particular issue you’re dealing with, that can be a great resource because usually they have strict guidelines about selling product. If it’s that type of platform, that’s great. If it’s about education, wonderful! Not selling a product is even better.” He cautions customers to stay away from groups charging for knowledge of a “secret formula.”

His biggest recommendation for education is to go back to basics. “There are some really good books out there. One book that stands the test of time is the original book by Jethro Kloss called Back to Eden. It’s kind of a standard in our industry. There are some other books out there, like Prescription for Nutritional Healing. Herbalists who have been around for a long time that are neutral, just providing data. There are some online classes, like Dominion Herbal College out of Vancouver. Dr. Christopher’s out of Utah.”

While he encourages education, Stagg is happy to share his own wealth of knowledge with customers. “If someone comes in and they’ve got an issue, we’re pretty good about being able to dial that in for them, that something is going to be effective.” Each customer receives his full attention as they discuss their needs, and he encourages them to be thoughtful about each step of the process. “We recommend that they do that before they purchase anything. And then they can bring in their blood work, and we’ll help them go over it and kind of decipher it.”

The Greenes are very intentional about the products they carry at Mother Nature’s Market. There are over 300 different supplements instore, and the team trusts every one. “You really want to know what you’re getting is good quality,” Stagg said. “We’ve done a lot of research and we stick with companies that have a good reputation. And then when companies get bought out by big corporate, we pull away because they start degrading the quality of raw material to increase their profit margin. So we make some adjustments.”

“We get great feedback from our customers all the time,” Stagg added. “Some things don’t work, and we love that feedback just as much, because if there’s enough data that says hey, this isn’t working for somebody, then we may look at getting rid of it or switching it up.”

They are so confident in the quality of their products they guarantee the customer’s money back if the products don’t work as described. “The only thing we can’t guarantee is taste and size of pill,” Stagg said, “but we work with our customers on that.”

“We’ve got a great customer base,” Stagg said. “We’ve seen customers that have been shopping with us from the very beginning and we’re now seeing three generations. Their kids and grandkids and great-grandkids are shopping with us.”

“We get new customers every day, and people are just coming in because they hear about us through word of mouth. We don’t do a lot of advertising. We want to be able to take care of all of our customers when it gets really busy. We want them to have that experience every time they come in.”

The ideal visit to Mother Nature’s Market cannot be rushed. Stagg is skilled enough that a new customer can enter in search of a product and he can discuss their needs with them, walk them to the product’s location on the shelves, give advice on next steps and complete the transaction in roughly five minutes. However, the real time investment comes from making changes to prioritize your health in the long term.

“We’ve sacrificed our health as a society at the altar of convenience,” Stagg said. “We’ve got to get back into cooking at home if we expect to have a healthier populace and people. You have to learn and go back to what your grandparents or maybe even your parents did. They didn’t use microwaves. They cooked with a cast iron skillet. They ate things they pulled from their garden.”

“We know that for a lot of people, it’s not realistic,” Stagg acknowledged, “but if you plan and you really prepare, you can live that way. Get very healthy. And then on occasion, if you want to go have a pizza or some ice cream and reward yourself, there shouldn’t be any reason why you can’t do that.”

You can visit Stagg and the rest of the Mother Nature’s Market team at 3853 Lawrenceville Highway in Brockett Square Tuesday through Saturday.