Nature's Storehouse changes hands

Aug. 5—CANTON — A retail mainstay in downtown Canton has changed hands.

Nature's Storehouse, owned by Rainbow L. and Joshua D. Crabtree for the last 21 years, has been sold to Clark C. and Yen Maine of Parishville.

The natural food grocery and supplement store has been in the same location since 1972. The Maines will be the store's fifth owner in 51 years.

The Crabtrees bought the store from Georgie Mallette after Rainbow Crabtree had worked there for three years.

"We expanded on what was already there," Rainbow Crabtree said. "Georgie used to make one kind of muffin and one type of soup most days. So now we have a cooler full of deli food and two to three soups a day."

The Crabtrees installed a produce cooler, expanding the fresh, local vegetable selections. She said they also added dairy products to the store, mainly featuring local and regional cheeses.

"Somehow in that little space we expanded on what was there," she said.

When they started, the Crabtrees were recent graduates of St. Lawrence University and starting a family.

Now, she says it is time for a change at Nature's.

"One of the main feelings for me is that I sense that Nature's needs to evolve and I know I am done," she said. "I know that I don't have the knowledge or the drive to take it to the next level."

Crabtree said she had done what she came to do and that the store was ready for the new energy and new ideas new owners would bring.

While the store was on the market for almost two years, Crabtree said she was willing to wait for the right buyers.

"Nature's has its own energy. Whoever owns it is just its steward," she said. "I have always been pleasantly surprised at the momentum that Nature's has. It somehow feels independent of who owns it."

The Maines lived and worked in Shanghai, China, when they first contacted the Crabtrees about purchasing the store.

Yen Maine, a native of Taiwan, was an executive for Citi Bank when she met Clark Maine, an engineer in the solar energy and battery storage industry. Managing the store remotely didn't seem practical, so the idea was dropped for a time.

Later, severe COVID-19 restrictions caused the Maines to decided to St. Lawrence County with their toddler son, where Clark Maine's mother owned Adirondack Fragrance Farm in Parishville. Yen Maine was already working remotely as Adirondack Fragrance Farm's chief operating officer and Clark Maine could continue to do his job remotely from Parishville.

Adirondack Fragrance Farm, a farm-to-factory operation founded by Sandy Maine, who also created Sunfeather Natural Soap Company, produces naturally scented candles, soaps, perfumes and other products.

Once moving to the area and purchasing Adirondack Fragrance Farm this year, the couple decided to revisit the idea of buying Nature's.

The Maines worked on expanding their team at Adirondack Fragrance and organized it so they had more bandwidth to operate the store.

"We want to replicate the success we created for Adirondack Fragrance Farm for Nature's," Yen Maine said. "When we reviewed the financials statements and looked at the business, we feel there are some opportunities we can work on."

Clark Maine said that Nature's, which already carried Adirondack Fragrance Farm products, seemed a good fit.

"One of our goals with the fragrance farm this year was to branch out and do more offline markets," Clark Maine said. "We see Nature's Storehouse as an everyday farmers market for the ADK products."

The Maines said they have no immediate plans for significant changes.

"I love the store. I used to come in here as a kid and buy chocolates and snacks," Clark Maine said.

Clark Maine said he learned at Adirondack Fragrance Farm that change is difficult and not always a good idea.

"At the beginning, we will make almost no changes. Rainbow has lots of great processes. She has built an amazing business," said Clark Maine. "We won't change things too much just tweak things where we see opportunities."

On Aug. 19, from 9 to 5, the Maines will host a "meet the new owners" event.

"We want to hear from the community," Yen Maine said. "We want to listen to them to see what they want."

There will be free soap samples from Adirondack Fragrance Farm and discounts.

They will participate in Cornell Cooperative Extension's Local Food Weekend on Sept. 9 and offer 10% discounts to college students on parents' weekends on Sept. 16-17 (SUNY Canton) and Sept 23-24 (St. Lawrence University).

Editor's note: The author's spouse is an employee of Nature's Storehouse.