Long-standing Kitchener natural food store for sale
Full Circle Foods, established in 1981, has become a fixture in downtown Kitchener
KITCHENER — Full Circle Foods has been a part of Patricia Szlagowski’s life for more than 20 years.
But she’s made the bittersweet decision to sell the Kitchener organic and natural food store as she and her husband prepare to embark on the next chapter in their lives.
“I will definitely miss it,” Szlagowski says. “I think as soon as it is sold and we can relax about the whole thing, I think it will hit me.”
Full Circle Foods was established in Kitchener in 1981; it’s been at its current location on Charles Street West near Queen Street since about 1998.
Szlagowski had been working at the store for about 10 years and was its manager when she mentioned in passing to thenowner Sultan Mamdani that she might be interested if he was ever interested in selling.
“The following day, he came up to me and said the store’s for sale. It came about really quickly,” Szlagowski says. “It was a passion for natural food that made me jump into it.”
Szlagowski, the third owner of the business, has been retired from the store’s dayto-day operations for a year or so. There are 10 full- and part-time employees.
Beyond natural whole organic foods — including an extensive bulk food section with bins filled with local grains, cereals, flours and beans — Full Circle also sells beauty and housecleaning supplies.
“Basically, everything for a healthy lifestyle,” Szlagowski says. Annual sales are in the $1-million range.
Szlagowski and her husband, Glenn, plan to move back to northern Ontario, where they’re originally from.
The store, about 3,000 square feet, is leased; Szlagowski is asking $375,000 for the business, including inventory and fixtures.
“We’ve done quite a bit of work in the store,” she says. There are new dispensing containers for bulk goods, for example, and new produce coolers.
With its history, the Full Circle has a loyal clientele. “There are generations of customers that have come to the store,” says Szlagowski. Others who have moved out of the region also come back. “They just don’t find what they need” elsewhere.
The store is in a central downtown location, just steps from the bus terminal and the new LRT line. It also has a small parking lot.
“It’s kind of a meeting place, I find, for a lot of people,” Szlagowski says. “That’s a really nice thing about the store.”