Exploring Life & Business with Steve Long of Harmony Farms Natural Foods Store

Today we’d like to introduce you to Steve Long.

Hi Steve, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
In 2003, my wife and business partner Nancy and I began looking for a place to locate our Healing Practices. Nancy is a Classical Naturopathic Dr and Usui Reiki Master with ten years managing GNC’s in Raleigh. I’m a Certified Health Specialist and a Usui Reiki Master Teacher with 20 years Retail Management experience and two years managing GNC’s in Raleigh. I shopped occasionally and had business cards at Harmony Farms Natural Foods.

One day in early 2004, I took Nancy with me and on the way out, the owner was there and Nancy asked her if she ever wanted to sell Harmony Farms to please let us know. Well, sometimes timing in life is everything! She did want to sell and on May 1, 2005, we officially took over as Owners of Harmony Farms Natural Foods! Marian was a visionary with the highest standards of quality. To remain competitive, we maintained that perspective and grew the store into a total household shopping experience with all products being Organic or Wild Crafted. There are zero artificial agents in anything in our store, and our Produce, Juice-Smoothie-Coffee Bar are all Organic!

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
We have been very blessed as our store continues to grow. The biggest challenge is always maintaining a great staff of dedicated employees. We’ve had a core of great employees for a while, which has helped us get through a couple of very trying times. The depression that began in 2009 really settled in on us in 2011-2013. We saw our sales drop to 2008 levels.

We also opened a cafe two doors down in December 2009. We spent two years making sure an organic menu with a lot of Gluten-Free items could work. We were confident, and initially, it was well-received. Keeping good cafe employees became a nightmare with the onset of the Occupy Wall Street movement and the entitlement attitude that came with it. In December 2011, we shut it down. Spring 2012, we moved the Organic Juice Bar into Harmony Farms and we sold the cafe. It took until 2014 to get sales back to 2010 levels. During Covid we are Blessed to be an Essential Store. We lost some employees whose parents wouldn’t let them work, but our business is booming, and we are thrilled to be in service to our community!

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
We are a locally owned true natural foods store with an emphasis on customer service. Our store is entirely Organic and Wildcrafted with zero artificial anything in our store. We are a total household shopping experience offering the highest quality foods, supplements, beauty products, pet products and housewares made in the world. We support LOCAL! We have over 60 Local Vendors at Harmony Farms!

We listen to our customers and help them find solutions to maximize their health while living the natural lifestyle path. We do tons of Special Orders and give discounts on cases. Our Customer Appreciation Program is very popular, giving our customers a 20% Discount Shopping Day every $500 they spend! We will start classes in our new “Break Room” which was delayed by Covid. One week you might learn about Enzymes and the next how to make soap! We also have an in-house Massage Therapist who specializes in Deep Tissue Medical Massage, Reiki and Yoga. Our Organic Juice, Smoothie and Coffee Bar is a very popular destination!

How do you define success?
Having customers tell us how much our solutions have helped them while simultaneously achieving a profit so we can continue to be in service to our community.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.Harmony-Farms.net
• Instagram: @HarmonyFarmsNC
• Facebook: @HarmonyFarmsNC

Image Credits
Monica Cope, Jessica Kiernan, Steve Long