Following a summer-long “Going Out of Business Sale,” the Pittsfield Health Food Centre at 407 North Street officially closed its doors on September 5. It was founded by Donald Baumert in 1965. His son Eric and Eric’s wife Betty, who had worked there since 1990, inherited the business after Donald’s death in 2000.
The store sold vitamins and other nutritional supplements, teas, homeopathic remedies, home and personal care products, and other health-related items. Although not a full-fledged grocery store, it sold a selection of prepared meals and ingredients, baked goods, fresh produce, and other natural foods.
The couple decided to close the business and retire for both personal and business reasons, according to Eric, who said the business has not been profitable for a decade. “We had a good run, and we loved doing this,” he said. “But earlier this year, I had a moment of clarity. I’m 70, and I don’t know how many years I have left. I realized I didn’t want to spend those years coming in every day to lose more money. So, I discussed it with Betty, and we agreed that it was time to call it a day.”
The storefront will not remain vacant, however. Cloud Nine Visions, a business operated by Jeremy Thompson and Sedale Jones, will take over the space and convert it into a cannabis dispensary. Eric noted that he and his wife delayed their closing date while they sold off their inventory. After Cloud Nine received city approval for a special permit on August 26, the Baumerts set the official closing date. “The owners of Cloud Nine are ready and eager to come in, so the beginning of September made sense,” Eric said.
When Pittsfield Health Food Centre opened in 1965, natural health food and supplements were still a small niche market. Eric said his father always had an affinity for natural food, nutrition, and health. “He was an expert forager, gardener, and hunter,” he said, adding that his father made a snap decision to launch it after reading a book, “How to Be Healthy with Natural Foods,” by Edward Marsh. At the time, Donald was working at General Electric. “Everyone told him he was crazy for doing this,” said Eric. “At that time, a job at GE was considered to be a ‘golden ticket’ that set you up for life. But looking back at what subsequently happened with GE, he made the right decision and turned out to be the smart one.”
Donald was originally a tenant and later bought the one-story building, which also contains two other storefronts.
In its heyday, the store had a loyal customer base and became an informal gathering place where people would stop in for advice and to chat. “It was a community,” said Eric. “We loved helping people find the right product for their specific needs. In some ways it was almost like a big family. After we announced our closing, an amazing number of people came in to wish us well.”
Eric was born in Pittsfield but moved away as a young child when his parents divorced and his mother married an Air Force officer. They moved frequently based on his stepfather’s assignments. “I was a classic military brat,” he said. “I lived in many different places while I was growing up.” He was living in California in the late 1980s when he decided to move back to Berkshire County. “I missed the change of seasons, and I realized that I was a New Englander in my heart,” he said.
After his return, he worked for a couple of years as a meat cutter in local grocery stores. In 1990, his father offered him the opportunity to take over the Pittsfield Health Food Centre. “The original plan was that he’d train me and then retire after six months,” recalled Eric. “He never did retire, so he, Betty, and I ran it together for a decade before he passed away.”
He attributed the business’s eventual decline to a combination of factors. Ironically, one cause was the growing popularity of natural health-oriented products and the market’s transformation into a large mainstream industry. “Originally, we were the only local source for these products,” he said. “You couldn’t buy them anywhere else. Pharmacies wouldn’t sell them. But as supplements and other natural health products became more widely accepted and popular, pharmacies and supermarkets added whole sections dedicated to them. The other factor was Amazon and online retailing. People could shop and order them online and have them delivered to their home, often for lower prices.”
He said the industry changed behind the scenes as well. Producers and distributors began favoring high-volume retail chains and online sales over small independent brick-and-mortar stores in their pricing and policies. “For example, I once tried to place a special order for a specific product for one of my customers from a longtime supplier,” he said. “They wanted to charge me a high price and an extra shipping fee because it was a small order. Instead, I went to an online retail site and bought the same product for the customer at a lower price. It was frustrating, because we’d been a regular wholesale buyer from them for years.”
He said they kept the business going in recent years by being frugal. He stopped taking a salary and lived on Social Security benefits, while his wife continued to earn a small salary. His father also set up a trust fund to support the business, which they used to help cover expenses. They also earned rental income from two storefront tenants in the building. “Despite the financial situation, we thought business might pick up again, but it never did,” he said. “Also, I’m a people person and enjoyed the interactions with customers. I used to say we don’t make a lot of money, but we still have a lot of fun.”
He acknowledged that while he is looking forward to retirement, he will miss working in the store and the camaraderie. He said he and his wife don’t have any specific plans for their retirement. They plan to stay in their home in Lenox but also hope to travel. “Because I moved around so much when I was young, I still have friends in different places,” he said. “We may do a tour of America and visit them. And it might be nice to spend some time in Florida during the winter.”
When asked if he wanted to make any final points in the interview, he replied: “Just add that I said, ‘Peace and love to everyone.’”