Subject: Hard to Find Health Products/Foods

From: [email-masked] (Patrick McCurdy)
Date: Thu, 10 Mar 1994 21:42:59 GMT

Often I have seen posts from folks in the midwest who lament
the fact that they can't find product X, or products like X
close to where they live.  Here in the San Francisco Bay Area,
we have a *wide* variety of sources for most health foods.

   This got me thinking about how much of a market there might
be in buying such items locally and shipping them to those
in less nutritionally progressive areas.  So, by way of some informal
market research, here are some questions:

1.  How much interest would you have in buying your favorite
(non-perishable) foods mail order?  

2.  What kinds of products would you be interest in?  Grains?
Cereal?  Pasta?  Rice?  Snacks? Canned goods?

3.  What specific products would you like to be able to buy?
You don't have to limit yourself to health foods, but try to 
think of things that are hard to find in your area, or that you
would find convenient to buy via mail.  Please be as specific
as possible with brand, size, etc.

4.  If you could find a wide variety of products that were
conveniently available via mail, how often would you likely
place an order, and about how much do you think you might spend
per order (assumimg competetive pricing and good service)?

5.   Are there any other types of (nonperishable) products that
you would like to be able to get mail order?  Cooking supplies,
biodegardable detergents, freeze-dried food, or anything else
that you have a hard time finding.

   Thanks for you time.

Patrick McCurdy
[email-masked]

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From: [email-masked] (Jim Bradley)
Date: Fri, 11 Mar 1994 16:27:35 GMT

In Patrick's original article, he mentioned the laments of midwesterners in
trying to get good quality healthy foods and the like.  Like most others in
the Heartland, we ran across the same problem, but found a good solution.

If you have several families/individuals in your area who are interested, you
could start a co-op or buying club like we did.  This enabled us to start
buying from the Blooming Prairie Warehouse up in Iowa.  BP provides a
selection unheard of at any of the local "health food" stores, in frozen and
fresh products along with the non-perishables.  You can also get excellent
organic produce.

BTW - there is also a *substantial* cost savings over what we can get at the
local retail outlets (sometimes approaching 50%).

Sure, you have to put in a little work (ordering, unloading trucks, etc), and 
you generally (but not always) have to buy in cases, but the selection and
savings are, to us at least, well worth it.  I know of at least 6 different
clubs in the Kansas City area alone serving from 10 to 30 families each.

If anybody wants more info, please either drop me a line directly or post to
this group.  I'll then get the straight poop from my wife (she organized our
club) and get it back to you.

And in case any of you suspicious types are wondering, there is ABSOLUTELY
nothing in this for me personally or our buying club.  I just wanted to share
something that is working out great for us with others who may be interested.

Bon Apetit!
 ___________________________________________________________________________
|                                       *                                   |
|  Jim Bradley                          *  " From there to here,            |
|  [email-masked]                  *    from here to there,            |
|                                       *    funny things are everywhere."  |
|  Kansas City, MO USA                  *  Dr. Suess                        |
|___________________________________________________________________________|