After 35 Years in Geneva, Soup to Nuts to Close in October

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For 35 years, Soup to Nuts has been a community resource for alternative products and holistic health solutions and services. The era comes to an end next month when the store closes for good.

Soup to Nuts will close at the end of October, said JR Carmany who owns the store with her husband Craig. It was with a heavy heart that the Carmanys made the hard decision due to the changing landscape of retail health food stores.

When they first took over the store in 1990, Soup to Nuts was the only place to find alternatives such as gluten-free bread or non-dairy milk products. Now there are many competitors for products that were once unique at Soup to Nuts.

For instance the store once had an entire aisle of milk alternatives because “there was nowhere to go locally for those products - there wasn’t soy milk anywhere else - now we have a four-foot section. It changed so much. It’s not unique. There’s really nothing new coming down the pike, “ JR Carmany said.

Although the closing of a long-standing community resource is bittersweet for the Carmanys, “we can’t compete on the retail level any longer but we can still have a significant impact on both individual health and the education of the community.”

While they saw the market for their once unique products decrease due to competition from large chains - the products became widely available - but the big merchandisers lack the training to teach people how to most effectively promote this lifestyle for people’s personal interest in health.

Making holistic health and natural living accessible

When JR and Craig took over the store, natural food and holistic health were still considered “out there” and not part of the mainstream culture, JR Carmany noted. Their own intention was to provide a family-friendly natural foods store -- focused on quality products, customer service, and natural health education.

“It’s been our focus to make nutrition and natural health a very practical and less ‘trippy’ lifestyle. It doesn’t have to be weird; there is good scientific basis for it.”

To educate the community, Soup to Nuts offers classes and workshops on topics ranging from climate awareness and organic gardening to chakra clearing, meditation and the raw food diet.

Often when people choose to commit to a healthier lifestyle they get overwhelmed and don’t know where to start. Carmany gave guidance for establishing healthy lifestyles, for example “looking at vitamin intake - there would be people taking 50 supplements a day and I work with them to reduce the number down to five.”

She saw the need for guidance in establishing health plans for personal wellness, selecting appropriate supplements, addressing alternatives for specific issues, and providing holistic support through consultations, body work and other holistic therapies.

“Over the years we educated people and taught them to be an advocate for their own health and improve their role as a consumer of food and health care,” JR Carmany said.