A tough and stagnant economy has yet another victim…my son’s favorite brand of allergy friendly cheese is Vegan Rella and ‘Fountain of Vitality was the only store that carried it near where I live. Apart from Vegan Rella, this small chain of health food stores carried a very diverse, hard-to-find allergy-friendly foods. It was also one of the few chains which boasted excellent customer service – they were knowledgeable about the products, were prompt about calling me for back-ordered items and took suggestions seriously. Compared to giants like Whole Foods, they still held their own.
Imagine the utter dismay of a mom of a multiple food allergy child when I found this notice on their door today,
“After 35 years in business we are sorry to say that Fresh and Wholesome Foods and Fountain of Vitality are closed. Thank you for your support through all these years. We have enjoyed serving you and will miss you.”
In many of my previous blog posts, I have listed this chain as a great place to buy the reviewed product. Unfortunately, that information is not current anymore.
Here are a couple of links that offer some more information to readers about the future of this great chain of wholesome, allergy-friendly stores:
http://www.nj.com/independentpress/index.ssf/2010/10/ tough_economic_times_forces_fr.html (copy and paste the whole link)
Hope this chain gets a buyer who can keep up the tradition of tough-to-find allergy friendly foods backed with customer service which exceeds expectations.
Allergy Foodie 