Farewell to Bumble Bee Health Foods

John and Karen Farrell run a two-person crew at Mountain View’s Bumble Bee Health Foods store, fielding questions about probiotics and stocking the shelves with specialty health foods, supplements and a tremendous supply of teas and herbs.

The store, located on the corner of Latham Street and Escuela Avenue, has been in the vanguard of health foods since it opened in 1957 as a local, independent pharmacy. Now, 58 years later, the couple said they will be winding down the business and retiring, bringing to an end one of the Bay Area’s oldest health food stores.

John Farrell has been running the store with his wife Karen since the 1970s, and said the store has been in the business of selling vitamins, herbs, homeopathic medicine and probiotics long before it became trendy, and certainly well before Dr. Oz started touting “miracle” health foods to mass audiences.

Karen’s father, Clifford Barnes, opened up the store back when Mountain View looked radically different, Farrell said. Before the city becoming a thriving center for technology, Farrell said the business’ next door neighbors included a woman who raised chickens, a produce stand and an open field. The pharmacy was converted to a health food store in 1972.

While the city may not have that same small-town feel, Bumble Bee Health Foods has kept the same vibe. Farrell said he and his wife try to answer any questions customers might have about a particular product, including all the possible health effects and how it might affect a customer’s other symptoms, like high blood pressure. If someone comes in looking for a gout remedy, for example, Farrell said they might direct them to celery seeds or cherry extract. If they can’t answer, it often means a quick call to a biologist or a pharmacist to figure it out.

“People come in with questions all the time, and hopefully we’re knowledgeable enough to answer,” Farrell said.

The store also takes requests for products, some of which can’t be found anywhere else in the area, Farrell said. Some of the products kept on the shelves are there just for the one or two customers who buy it. And besides, where else can someone easily get a jar of desiccated beef liver tablets?

Farrell said customers are comfortable hanging around the store and talking for half an hour or more just to chat. He said the high cost of rent in Mountain View continues to be the top issue on everyone’s mind.

Over the decades working at the store, Farrell said he noticed an increased demand for health food products, as many of the vitamins and supplements they stock turned into national dietary trends. The interest brought new customers to the market, but it also brought in competition from larger chain stores.

Stores like Sprouts and Whole Foods, which have picked up in popularity over the years, are able to sell many of the same vitamins and supplements as independent stores like Bumble Bee Health Foods, but at a significantly marked down price, Farrell said. While Bumble Bee Health Foods has cut its prices to stay competitive, many other small health food stores have folded.

“In the ’70s there were five independent health food stores within 2 miles,” Farrell said. Now, Bumble Bee Health Foods is the only one left, he said.

The competitive environment did prompt some cutbacks. The store, which is now heavily stocked with teas, grains, supplements, herbs and medicines, used to sell raw milk, goat cheese, carrot juice and other groceries. Farrell said the rise of the Trader Joe’s chain was the biggest reason they had to ditch the larger selection, but back in the 1970s, they were the only store in the area selling them.

“In those days, this is where you’d have to get this stuff,” he said.

During its heyday, the store had as many as five employees, but since the business is winding down its operations, it’s just been the Farrells running the shop. They work six days a week, Monday to Saturday, with John Farrell coming in on Sunday to manage the store. Neither of them have taken a vacation since 2001, they said. Their last employee, Farrell said, left because of the high cost of rent in the area.

Farrell said the store has always prided itself on getting the more expensive raw materials from providers in countries like Germany for its products, which ratchets up the costs. But because they have had to slash prices to stay competitive, it’s been more and more challenging to run the small independent store, he said. To him, that was a sign that it was time to retire and close up the shop.

“When prices become the prime motivator, it’s time to quit,” he said.

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