Healthy Alternatives

March 7, 2007

In 1997, recent college graduate Wade Kelso followed his dream of owning his own business, and opened Healthy Alternatives. Sports nutrition and supplements were high on the store’s priority list.
Ten years later, business is thriving, and the store is well-stocked with a tremendous variety of natural and organic items – from makeup to food to cleaning and pet products – as well as its popular high quality vitamin supplements.
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS
While in college, Kelso considered careers in engineering, pharmaceuticals
and medicine, ending up with a degree in Public Health.
When he moved back to Northern Michigan, the idea of a health store came up. “Friends of our family were considering the possibility,” says Kelso. “They kind of suggested the idea to me and I was already thinking about some kind of a business; they had already been to a trade show, so they had some materials to share with me.”
After doing his own research, Kelso opened his store in the Toski-Sands Plaza near Petoskey, committing himself fully to the one-man operation. In 2001, Kelso hired full-time employee Scott Hawes, and occasionally receives part-time help from his family.
“When I first started,” remembers Kelso, “sports nutrition was big. Now that’s kind of tapered off somewhat, and we’re converting more and more as things are going more organic.” Certified organic offerings include meat, fish, dairy and tea.
Specialty products, such as homeo-pathics, have been expanded to keep up with demand.
“They’re considered natural medicines, and that’s probably one of the bigger growing areas, so we kind of tripled that area in the last year-and-a-half,” says Kelso.
If the store doesn’t have what you want, special orders are welcome and patrons living away from the area can have favorite products shipped.

LEARNING CURVE
Quality and customer service are important to Kelso, so he spends lots of time reading trade magazines and journals to keep up with constantly changing products.
“A lot of [my information] comes just from simply helping customers out,” says Kelso.
“It comes down to having an interest in learning about the products; if you don’t have an interest, then it’s going to be very mind-boggling.”
If a customer comes in asking about a specific item, Kelso and Hawes do their best to find out more about it, whether the store carries it or not.
“We can help them sort through why these products might be good for them, what they are capable of…and select the product that’s right for them,” says Kelso. “We’re very knowledgeable about the product line, whether from past experience or using some of our resource books to kind of sort through.”

VITAMINS RULE
“Even though there is a co-op here, it seemed like there was a little bit of a niche to fill in more of the supplement end of things,” says Kelso, “and supplements have been our forte.”
The store carries a wide variety of supplements to help with arthritis, indigestion, pregnancy, prostate health and hormonal changes, as well as lot of herbs and anti-inflammatory and soy products.
Well-known vitamin supplements in-stock include those by KAL, Solaray and Twin Lab, with the most popular being multivitamins by Pure Essence Labs. The store offers their One ‘n’ Only one-a-day and Pro-Fema menopause supplements as well as the Life Essence multivitamin containing high quality minerals with better than average absorption.
“It goes way beyond just a multivitamin,” says Kelso. “They call it a master multiple. It has over a thousand nutrients in it, including whole foods, digestive enzymes, fruits, vegetables and lots of antioxidant support.”
A high-end, 100 percent food-state, specialty vitamin by MegaFoods – everything in it is actually from food – is also available.
Fish oil products by Carlson and Nordic Naturals are some of the store’s biggest sellers, with another popular item being Mango-Xan Antioxidant, a liquid used for many ailments.
“They call it an antioxidant recovery formula, but we have customers buying it for lots of different uses,” says Kelso. “We don’t make any claims on it, but we have customers that use it for arthritis, energy and for digestive type problems.”

QUALITY VERSUS PRICE
Giant retail stores may sell common supplements at lower prices, but lower prices don’t always mean good quality.
Kelso educates customers on the value of supplements tested by the National Products Association and labeled with the GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) logo.
“A lot of the mass market products are not going to be members of that group or organization,” explains Kelso. “They’re not necessarily creating those products equally, so they can offer a lesser price. A lot of companies out there are not holding up to their end of the bargain.”
Customers notice the price difference on Healthy Alternatives’ products. “We try to do a lot of educating when we’re talking to people because our prices are higher and people want to know why,” says Kelso.
Carlson Fish Oil products are a good example. “When they fish for their product,” explains Kelso, “they’re getting right off the boats into processing, right now, so the fish doesn’t have a chance to go bad.”
Lower priced fish oil products are farm-raised in streams and rivers often contaminated with heavy metals and PCBs. People concerned about eating fish raised in these conditions should be just as concerned about the supplement replacing the real thing.
“People are aware that fish in general are a product that you have to be careful with,” explains Kelso. “You want to buy the best – you want to buy the purest.”
“When a customer buys the cheaper product, they’re getting a cheaper product; that really holds true in this industry.”

Healthy Alternatives is located at
2292 M-119, in the Toski-Sands Plaza, Petoskey and can be reached by phone at 231-348-8390. Hours of operation are Monday-Friday, 9:30 – 6; Saturday, 9:30-4 and closed Sundays.