Dean’s Natural Food Market Expands Offerings
Educational Workshops, Screenings, Events, and New Location
Cooler temperatures inevitably make it more difficult to find sustainable, fresh, organic, and even GMO free local fruits and vegetables, most commonly offered at local outdoor farmers and makers markets.
The shift for the health and environmentally conscious often shifts back to specialty markets, including area staple Dean’s Natural Food Store on Route 35 in Ocean Township.
Offering weekend and weekly produce sales, the organic food and natural product store is celebrating its 20 year anniversary with an expansion of not only products and educational workshops, but with a new location in Chester.
At the flagship store, bulk got a boost with the expansion of dried beans, whole grains, oats, raw nuts and seeds, dried fruit, fresh-ground nut butters, coffee, candy, and snack items. Now patrons can purchase exactly what they need, thereby saving money and helping the environment.
Dean and Loretta Nelson also own and operate Dean’s Markets in Shrewsbury and Basking Ridge.
“Our mission is to serve our community and provide products that promote well being,” owner Dean Nelson has said. “The ability to be able to serve and educate is really what drives us.”
Free workshops offer everything from cutting the sugar habit to finding nutritional alternatives kids will actually eat. Next month’s featured free workshop aims to demystify the who and what behind GMO’s and how they affect food supply.
Dean’s is supporting two exclusive screenings of the newly released Seed: The Untold Story documentary, which unveils the extinction of a 12,000 year old food legacy and how experts are working to protect the remaining varietals.
A supporter of Sunday’s Rook Run in Long Branch, Dean’s will participate in the Oct 2 Veg Fest in Morristown, the Oct. 13 Best of Monmouth County food expo at Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel in Asbury Park, and at the Oct. 16 Shrewsbury 5k.
The couple also support Mary’s Place by the Sea. Cofounder Michele Gannon said after repeated trips to the Ocean Township store to purchase fresh smoothies for the women who receive cancer support care at the Ocean Grove nonprofit, Nelson surprised them with a professional grade juicer.
“There is very strong evidence that nutrition plays a huge influence on the ability to fight cancer cells,” Nelson said in a Mary’s Place support video. “Food has been used as a medicine for thousands of years and we’ve kind of gotten away from that.”
Dean’s Natural Food Market is located at 1119 Route 35. Hours of operation are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 .am. to 7 p.m. Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. For details and more information, visit Dean’s website here, Facebook page, and Instagram.
[Photos courtesy of Dean’s Market]
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