Vitamin Cottage Natural Food Markets, Inc () (commonly referred to as "Vitamin Cottage" or "Natural Grocers") is a

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

based

health food A healthy diet is a diet that maintains or improves overall health. A healthy diet provides the body with essential nutrition: fluid, macronutrients such as protein, micronutrients such as vitamins, and adequate fibre and food energy. A healt ...

chain. The business was founded in 1955 as a

door-to-door sales Door-to-door is a canvassing technique that is generally used for sales, marketing, advertising, evangelism or campaigning, in which the person or persons walk from the door of one house to the door of another, trying to sell or advertise a pro ...

operation by Margaret and Philip Isely. They opened the first Vitamin Cottage store in

Lakewood, Colorado The City of Lakewood is the home rule municipality that is the most populous municipality in Jefferson County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 155,984 at the 2020 U.S. Census making Lakewood the fifth most populous city in Col ...

, in 1963. After Margaret Isely's death in 1997, the Iselys' children took over the business the following year. Beginning in 2008, Vitamin Cottage Natural Grocers phased in a name change to Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, to emphasize that groceries, rather than nutritional supplements, formed a majority of its sales. The company made its

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...

in July 2012, raising $107 million. Its products include

vitamins A vitamin is an organic molecule (or a set of molecules closely related chemically, i.e. vitamers) that is an essential micronutrient that an organism needs in small quantities for the proper functioning of its metabolism. Essential nutrien ...

dietary supplements A dietary supplement is a manufactured product intended to supplement one's diet by taking a pill (pharmacy), pill, capsule (pharmacy), capsule, tablet (pharmacy), tablet, powder, or liquid. A supplement can provide nutrients either extr ...

, natural and

organic food Organic food, ecological food or biological food are food and drinks produced by methods complying with the standards of organic farming. Standards vary worldwide, but organic farming features practices that cycle resources, promote ecological ...

organic produce Organic food, ecological food or biological food are food and drinks produced by methods complying with the standards of organic farming. Standards vary worldwide, but organic farming features practices that cycle resources, promote ecological ...

and natural body care products. The company has a manifesto entitled "What We Won't Sell and Why", which includes artificial colors and flavors, artificial preservatives, irradiated food and meat raised using artificial hormones and antibiotics, among others. The company operated around 162 retail grocery stores in around 20 states, mainly west of the Mississippi River, and had approximately 3,000 employees in 2008.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1955 establishments in Colorado Companies based in Lakewood, Colorado Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange Health food stores Organic food retail organizations American companies established in 1955 Retail companies established in 1955 Supermarkets of the United States