Whole Earth Center (Princeton, NJ)
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The Whole Earth Center is a non-profit natural foods grocery store in Princeton, NJ.
History
It was founded in April of 1970[1], the same year as the first Earth Day, to provide healthy, sustainable food choices and to raise funds to reduce harmful impacts on the environment. The founders were five women (Barbara Parmet, Florence Falk, Margot Sutherland, Hella McVay[2], and Susy Waterman) who raised $4,500 in a door-to-door, child-in-tow, funding campaign that enabled them purchase the center's initial stock of bulk foods.[3][4]
Full-fledged health food store with bulk shopping
The store's produce is 100% organic and, if possible, locally sourced within a 150-mile radius. The store carries hundreds of bulk items to reduce packaging waste, including spices, grains, beans, nuts, coffee, dried fruit, and household cleaners.[5] There is a bakery providing bread and muffins made daily without preservatives and a deli serving fresh-made, vegan and vegetarian prepared foods. There is a peanut-butter-maker, where you put in fresh peanuts and they are immediately crushed into fresh peanut butter. There are specialty ingredients for macrobiotics, some household goods, and some local grass-fed, pasture-raised, hormone- and antibiotic-free meats and fish. There is also a few tables for eating near the deli, as well as tables and benches outside for eating in the summertime.
Support for healthy living and environmental preservation
In addition to the store, the non-profit organization helps sponsor events for healthy eating and environmental preservation, including in-store discussion groups on healthy living, Bike to Work Week, the annual Princeton Environmental Film Festival, Princeton School Gardens Cooperative, The Suppers Program (now rebranded as "Eating for your Health"), The Town Topics newspaper, and the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen.[6] The non-profit also supports the local environment by donating to, and working closely with, organizations such as the D&R Greenway[7] and Friends of Herrontown Woods.[8]
Location
The Whole Earth Center store is located at 360 Nassau Street near the intersection with Harrison Street. Its parking lot can also be accessed and exited on North Harrison Street via two one-way alleys on either side of a doctor's office building (very near the intersection with Nassau Street)
Notes
- ↑ Keeping it Independent by Anne Levin, a profile of 3 groceries in Princeton Magazine online. Last access 4/6/2024.
- ↑ Princeton couple to be honored for land conservation efforts by state group by Krystal Knapp in online newspaper Planet Princeton, 4/2/2024. Last access 4/6/2024.
- ↑ Local Grocery Store’s Aim Towards Sustainability on AIM2Flourish, written by Nilesh Talreja, Rohan Moogi, Shridhar Amin, Mieche Camille Galang, and Margori Mendoza for a class by Professor Joe Markert of Rutgers Business School. Last access 4/6/2024.
- ↑ The Whole Earth Center: A Sustainability Story by Hella McVay, 4/21/2020 on the Watershed Institute website.
- ↑ Natural Foods and Environmental Awareness Are Mission of Princeton’s Whole Earth Center in the Town Topics column "It's New to Us" by Jean Stratton, Vol. LXIII, No. 35, Wednesday, September 2, 2009. Last access 4/6/2024.
- ↑ Environmental Commitment as described on the Whole Earth Center website. Last access 4/6/2024.
- ↑ D&R Greenway, Whole Earth Partnership on Patch.com, written by Carolyn Foote Edelmann on Nov 22, 2017. Last access 4/6/2024.
- ↑ Whole Earth Center donates $3,000 to FOHW on CommunityNews.org, Jun. 18, 2015. Last access 4/6/2024.