Green Acres is now a medium sized organic and all natural foods store based on Barbara’s conviction that “food is our best medicine.†Originally the store served as an alternative to weekly grocery shopping at the large supermarket chain right across the street. But overtime Green Acres has become a shopping destination as it expanded its product mix, including specialty foods, meats, a deli and baked goods—to about 10,000 SKUs, always sticking to the store mantra of no refined sugars, pesticides, chemical preservatives, or hydrogenated oils. The vitamin and supplement business, which now includes a house brand, accounts for about one-third of revenues.
Barbara Hoffmann attributes the success of Green Acres to its basic product integrity along with its heavy emphasis on customer education and community outreach. Both Green Acres stores host regular product demos and cooking classes. In addition, the Wichita stores provides live music on weekends, hosts a farmer’s market every Saturday to highlight local produce; it also produces several large events featuring nationally known health experts, for which it has to rent space in nearby hotels to accommodate the hundreds of customers who show up. For an upcoming 18th anniversary celebration Barbara estimates they will have 1000 people come through the store—in a metropolitan community of just over 600,000!