Why We Choose Every Product by Hand

People ask why we only carry about 50 products. The short answer is that I will not put something on our shelves unless I would give it to my own family. That has been the rule since I opened this store in 1995.

How a Product Gets on Our Shelves

My regular customers have started calling it "our shelf standard," which makes me laugh, but I guess it stuck. When a new supplement or product crosses my desk, I start with the label. All of it — supplement facts, other ingredients, the stuff in tiny print nobody reads. Fillers, artificial colors, ingredients I cannot explain in plain English? That is a no.

Then I look for third-party testing. Not the company testing their own product — that is like grading your own homework. I want an independent lab that verified the bottle contains what the label says. You would be surprised how many companies will not provide that when you ask. Which tells you something.

If it passes those two checks, I try it. Supplements I can safely take get a 30-day trial. Candles and oils get tested in the store and at home. I pay attention to whether the thing actually works and whether I would use it every day.

The Trade-Off Is Worth It

A chain store might carry 5,000 bottles. Ask a clerk there which magnesium is best and you will get a shrug or a guess. Ask me the same question here and I can tell you why I picked the one on our shelf, what the lab results look like, and whether it is right for what you are dealing with.

We do not have everything. But I can vouch for everything we have.

Things Come Off the Shelf Too

Last year I dropped three products. Two had changed their ingredient sourcing without telling anyone — I found out from reading the updated labels, not from the company. The third had quietly removed their third-party testing certification from the new bottles. That kind of thing makes me angry. Those are not the companies I want representing this store.

We reevaluate every product at least once a year. Sometimes more often if I hear consistent feedback from customers that something is not working like it used to.

When you pick something up at Healthy Living, it is not a random selection from a distributor catalog. It is something I have personally checked out, tried, and decided is worth your money. After almost 30 years of doing this, that is the only way I know how to run this place.