Jade Jump (left) and Nate Clifford (right) stand outside their new Cornucopia Natural Wellness Market store in Holyoke during a grand opening event on July 25.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
HOLYOKE — Those looking for natural foods, healthy groceries, vitamins, supplements and wellness products in Holyoke will have an outlet at Cornucopia Natural Wellness Market.
Co-owners Nate Clifford and Jade Jump hosted a grand opening ceremony on July 25 to introduce the market to the community after the business relocated from Northampton to its new location in Holyoke at 384 Dwight St.
“Our passion really comes from wanting to provide real food that is as minimally processed as possible and is grown with … hopefully no pesticides, fungicides and all that stuff,” Clifford stated. “Just trying to get the American diet back to a place that actually will provide health and well-being for people. We have decades of experience in that realm.”
In addition to having packaged groceries, Cornucopia has a bulk section where shoppers can buy products such as granola, grains, beans, lentils, herbs and coffee. The store also features a whole-body care and supplement department. Jump said once the store builds a small prep kitchen, they will provide dry produce such as avocados, potatoes, garlic and bananas.
Jump also said the business will soon host workshops and educational events. Clifford added that the store invites anyone who wants to show their customer base their product to come in and set up a table to talk about their product and give samples.
Clifford said the shop’s goal is to cater to the community’s needs by providing high-quality, natural products and reliable information. He explained that it was hard to operate financially in Northampton because there were already a lot of natural food options in that community. He said there aren’t as many places that sell what they sell in Holyoke.
“It really met our mentality around what it is we do and why we do it, so moving here was such a no-brainer for us,” Clifford stated. “We love Holyoke, and we just wanted to bring that option for healthy food to this community.”
Currently, the store is open Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m to 6 p.m.
Clifford explained that Cornucopia started in 1980 as part of the wave of natural foods stores that were independently owned and operated to combat the wave of processed foods that were becoming a staple in everyone’s diet.
Clifford said they always wanted to start their own business with similar products to Cambridge Naturals, which is the natural food store he and Jump used to work at.
The couple moved to Western Massachusetts in 2019 after having their first kid together. They both worked at Cornucopia Foods in Northampton before they purchased the natural food store in 2019 after the previous owners wanted to move on after 40 years.
Clifford and Jump talked highly of the grand opening event in Holyoke, which was attended by Mayor Joshua Garcia and many other visitors.
“It felt wonderful. This process took a lot longer than we anticipated … a little over a year later. After leaving Northampton and finally getting open in Holyoke, we were very emotional,” Jump stated. “Walking out there and seeing cars pulling in, having the mayor be there to do the ribbon cutting with us, it was a very proud and emotional moment. We’re feeling very grateful.”
Clifford said that the patrons who’ve visited so far are pleased with what the market offers.
“We’re going to continue to evolve into what we need to be to best serve our existing customers and the customers that are going to be finding us here,” Clifford said. “We are here to stay, Holyoke. We are excited to be here, and we want to be a part of the uplifting of this whole community as best we can. Just come in and talk to us. We’re open to constructive criticism and hopefully mostly positive feedback.”
