FARMINGTON – On Jan. 9, Melissa Malone opened her second health foods and nutrition club, Main Street Nutrition, in downtown Farmington. The current owner of Peak Nutrition in Wilton hadn’t planned on the expansion to the downtown area, but when someone approached her several months ago about a space opening up, she couldn’t refuse.
“I never thought about opening a business at all actually, but you don’t get the opportunity for a storefront often,” said Malone who started her work in the health foods market as a distributor for Herbalife, a nutritional tea company that specializes in boosting metabolism and natural energy.
After owning Peak Nutrition for a year, the pandemic hit, having a positive impact on Malone’s business. It was this influx that allowed for her to expand into the Farmington area, joining the growing populations of businesses downtown. Main Street Nutrition offers teas, coffees, and meal replacement shakes. All products are plant-based and sugar-free. The menu also caters to gluten free, keto-friendly, and dairy free diets.
“I think we’re craving healthy options right now. People are especially tired, with the remote learning and all the time spent on virtual activities. Some people can’t get to the gym. They’re asking themselves how else can I stay healthy? And the kind of energy that our teas offer is healthy and clean, and lasts all day,” said Malone.
Since coming to Farmington, Malone has had to increase her staff to keep up with her increased business. For the first time, she’s selling all of her products, which hadn’t been the case when she’d owned only Peak Nutrition. Though a few Farmington locals who once shopped at Peak Nutrition have now followed Malone to the Farmington location, most of her business is owed to new customers. As a Herbalife nutrition club, Main Street Nutrition is “invite only” which means the kind of advertising available to Malone is restricted. At first, between the stresses of opening a business in a pandemic, the Herbalife nutrition club advertising restrictions, and the apprehension about introducing an alternative health foods club to the rural area, Malone was concerned for her initial success. But the new business’ tight-knit community worked in her favor.
“We rely extremely heavily on social media, offering discounts when people check-in on Facebook. But we also rely on word of mouth. Word of mouth through the small community is everything,” said Malone, who reports that since their opening, business has increased by 10 people each day. Though this could be due in part to the power of word-of-mouth in a small community, it also might be a sign of the Farmington area moving towards a healthier lifestyle.
“We’ve got Orange Cat, the Downtown Press and Determined Nutrition in the downtown now. People like the healthier products,” said Malone.
Main Street Nutrition is currently open seven days a week, from 6:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. during the week, and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the weekends. For more information or to view their menu, their website can be reached here: https://www.facebook.com/mainstreetnutritionfarmington/.
