Local shop helps with transition to more natural way of living.
Natural health supplements are very popular today, but not so much 21 years ago when Harold Mitchell first started selling them.
“I was in a store in Alabama buying some energy supplements,” says Mitchell, “and the owner suggested I become a distributor.” Mitchell ran with the idea, which eventually led to his store, H&M Herbs, on Battlefield Parkway in Fort Oglethorpe, across the street from Chick-fil-A.
Mitchell didn’t quit his day job. H&M Herbs was his second fulltime job until three years ago, when he retired from State Farm.
“My dad eats, drinks and sleeps his store,” says Mitchell’s daughter, Jenna, who has worked at the shop for the past ten years.
Jenna runs the online end of the business and helps with the storefront when things get especially busy or her father is unable to be there. “This is a family business,” she says. “We really care about our customers and their health.”
The store’s top-selling items include Life’s Fortune vitamins, weight loss herbs, Plum Skinny, apple cider vinegar, digestion aids, essential oils, and local honey from a producer in Tunnel Hill. CHA alkaline water from Big Springs in Calhoun is also a top seller.
“People have become more aware of the side effects of medications and the fillers in them,” says Jenna. “They’re concerned about what that’s doing to their bodies.”
Jenna says that when she first started working for her father at 17 years old, she wasn’t really into the natural approach to health. But side effects of some prescription drugs she was taking made her look more closely at the products she was selling to others.
Now Jenna’s favorite products are apple cider vinegar, aloe vera juice, essential oils, and the local honey that’s popular for dealing with allergies.
H&M Herbs carries hundreds of products. Mitchell and his daughter are committed to honesty with their customers. “If a product has worked for some people and not others, we tell customers that,” says Jenna. “If we don’t have the answer to a question, we’ll research it.”
The store has relocated within the city several times. It was located at one time near Hamrick’s then near Papa John’s Pizza, near Office Depot next, and now across the street from Chick-fil-A. Each move improved the service the store was able to offer, from greater visibility to better parking to more space for products.
When customers step into the shop, they’re met with soothing scents coming from the essential oils diffuser the store sells. Essential oils (oils from plants, without syn-
thetic additives) can be used in baths, massage and diffusers to improve both physical and psychological health.
“Making the transition to a more natural way of living can be hard,” says Jenna. “It can take time.”
H&M Herbs aims to help its customers make the jump a little more smoothly.
H&M Herbs is located at 1140 Battlefield Parkway in Fort Oglethorpe. They can be reached at 706-8619454 and online at hmherbs.com.