Meet Nancee Bowers

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nancee Bowers.

Hi Nancee, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
At about age two, I was found abandoned on the streets of Seoul, Korea. I was fortunate to be adopted by a family from Woolwich, Maine.

However, the family was living on a pastor’s small income, and feeding a family of 6 meant consuming cheap food all the time. Proper nutrition was a luxury that we couldn’t often afford. McDonald’s was the standard treatment when the family was able to eat out on rare occasions.

At age 14, my parents divorced and the family moved to North Carolina. I began to experience the family falling apart and continued poor nutrition. In my later teenage years, I began researching how to improve my health through a properly balanced diet. This interest eventually led to my working for a general Nutrition store and a Sports Nutrition outlet for many years.

After getting married and starting to raise a family my husband’s work in the Information Technology field during the “Dot Com,” boom years, put us into a solid place financially and I decided that it was time to stop working for other companies were only the more profitable areas of Nutrition were given the proper focus and open my own business.

I knew what I knew and wanted to do things my own way because I knew that it could help a lot of people in our community and I knew that a truly holistic approach to health and nutrition would move the needle and I had a hunch that people would see the results and embrace how we do business.

In January of 2006, my husband and I launched, “Albemarle Nutrition,” in Albemarle, North Carolina. We started in a local strip mall and grew every year we were open. After seven years we moved to a larger space in the same strip. Our business continued to grow and boomed in the new, larger space until even that was too small. In 2020, we purchased our own 3500 Square Foot building around the corner at 1711, East Main Street, Albemarle, NC where we continue to operate to this day.

Today, we operate the storefront as a General and Sports Nutrition shop with a spa where we also offer things like facial esthetics and massage therapy. We’ve recently added a Salt Cave and are happy to be offering Salt Cave therapy which many have found useful in recovering from the effects of COVID-19. We have a protein smoothie bar which many uses as a meal replacement diet to help with dropping weight.

Since the early days of our business, we’ve had a basic web presence both on Facebook and Instagram as well as our own website at www.AlbemarleNutrition.com. As of April, we have revamped our website and it now includes the ability to order some of our products online and chat directly with us for help with questions about the products and services we offer.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
God is in all things. I felt called to create this business to help people live a healthier lifestyle. In my mind at least, our success was never in doubt. I say that with humility. I saw a need and a niche.

Working in the industry for nearly 20 years before starting our own brick-and-mortar business certainly helped things go smoothly. Being a family of faith has certainly helped both of us.

Like everyone else, things have not always gone 100 % smooth for us. We’ve raised two childing while never working less than a 50-hour week for 16 years and often even more hours than that. When CBD stores start popping up and going out practically overnight in our area, we weren’t surprised.

When folks step into our store with over 20,000 different products, some folks think it’s something they’d like to do. Some even ask us to tell them how to get into this, but the very first step in the “How To Manually,” usually shuts down most interest.

Step 1. Work for someone else in the business for 8 – 10 years so that you know the business inside and out. Learn it while you’re not responsible for anyone else’s salary.

Step 2. would probably be something like, “Save up $150,000,” but we’ve never had anyone get that far.

That may sound a little cheeky, but the point is, there’s a lot more in the way of struggles that you didn’t expect to run into than the hurdles you knew you’d have to get over. Some products work better than others for instance.

We’re constantly shifting the goods we carry including only the items we have personally used and know to be quality supplements for instance.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My husband is a semi-professional musician and for 16 years as a full-time visual designer working in the banking industry. Both of those skillsets have come in handy in the promotion of our business.

We lived in Japan for a few years and the Japanese aesthetic has heavily influenced the interior design of our space.

What matters most to you?
Simply being that light in an ever-darkening world. Helping people is all that matters.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.albemarlenutrition.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/albemarle_nutrition/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlbemarleNutrition

Image Credits
Brent Bowers and Nancee Bowers