TOWN OF AMSTERDAM — There are guitars hung from the ceiling above the inventory of medicinal mushroom supplements and collagen peptides inside Down to Earth, a small store that mostly sells health foods and related products. Bins of vinyl LP records are positioned at the entrance, just beyond the taps from which are drawn six flavors of kombucha. New guitar straps are displayed near dropper bottles filled with concentrates whose makers claim can help their users defeat nausea and pollens, and boost their immune system.
Everything is for sale, but the shop’s owner was adamant that nothing gets added to the stock without careful consideration.
“This is a specialty store,” said David Tokaworski, leading a visitor on a tour late on a recent Thursday afternoon. “If people want information, even simple questions answered, this is where they can get it.”
For the last 48 years — the first five were at a mall in Hagaman and the last 43 have been here, in a store connected to the owner’s house, at 4758 State Highway 30 — Tokaworski has been prepared to furnish patrons with health foods, health and beauty products made without chemicals, nutritional literature, guitar tuning services, musical books and sales of different types of guitars.
Nutrition-related products predominate inside Down to Earth, and Tokaworski estimated that 90 percent of store revenues come from sales of food supplements, natural remedies, herbs, teas, essential oils and bulk foods. The nuts, seeds and grains which are sold in bulk are packaged on-site and carry the store’s name.
“Business is good,” Tokaworski said. “We continually get new generations of people. You get a lot of good, young people that are interested in their health and they like natural products.”
Tokaworski, 64, founded the business with one of his brothers in 1975.
“At that time, it was hard to get food in its natural state without being refined, over-processed, with artificial colors and flavors,” he recalled.
Down to Earth leased space in Hagaman’s Colonial Mini Mall, and by late 1979 was the retail center’s last tenant. Tokaworski became the sole owner in 1980, when his brother moved out of the area and Tokaworski moved the business into a former audio-visual store on Route 30 in the town of Amsterdam.
If they were transported 43 years into the future, a store patron from 1980 would certainly recognize the interior and much of the inventory inside Down to Earth, Tokaworski said.
Some products could have vanished — and not because they were ineffective but because demand for them had caused supermarkets and other chain retailers to offer them for sale.
“Once something gets very popular, it can become mainstream,” Tokaworski said.
He cited rice cakes, tofu and yogurts as items that formerly were only found in stores like Down to Earth but which now are readily available in chain stores.
Tokaworski paused near a display of concentrates. They were packaged in small glass bottles topped with pipettes. He explained how a dropper-full of concentrate is added to 2 ounces of water. The concentrates had names like Not Now Nausea, Ready for Pollen, Rapid Immune Boost and Pollen Defense.
“Those are structure function claims,” Tokaworski said. “The manufacturers are allowed to do that.”
Later, in the back of the store, its owner pointed to a selection of teas. Many carried explanatory phrases in their names.
“A lot of the teas have the structure function claims,” Tokaworski said, “so it’s easy to determine what you need.”
Down to Earth’s owner said he spends time nearly every day reading about new health studies, healthcare news and new products, but he stressed he is not a medical doctor and he does not practice medicine. He also believes people need to do more than swallow a pill in order to alter how they feel.
“If you really want to make a change in your health condition, you need a proper diet and lifestyle, and not just take an herbal supplement or a vitamin herbal supplement,” Tokaworski said.
The store also sells soaps and lotions and deodorants that are free of chemicals.
Some customers will come in and beeline for a specific product, bring it to the sales counter and depart, Tokaworski said. thers will walk the aisles and fill a box as they browse.
Dave Alteri, from Perth, walked into Down to Earth recently and greeted the owner by his first name. He left after purchasing a $29 nutritional supplement.
“If I’ve got a question, I come here and ask him,” Alteri said about Tokaworski. “I wouldn’t go anywhere else. It’s as simple as that.”
Down to Earth has a staff of two. The owner and his wife, Kandy, are the only people that work behind the front counter.
“That’s the nice thing about a specialty store,” David Tokaworski said. “Most of the time, if it’s not a chain, you’re dealing with people that have a good understanding of what they’re selling.”
Down to Earth has competition from other health food stores and other music stores. Some of the stores have physical locations and some are e-commerce sites. All sales from the Amsterdam store are made on the premises. Tokaworski feels it would consume too much time to list the store’s inventory online and then handle the packing and shipping involved with dispatching the orders. This would also detract from the time he spends reading about healthy lifestyles and answering questions from customers.
Chain stores also provide some competition, Tokaworski said, but they tend to ignore some of the simple, unprocessed things that he has sold since 1975. He thinks the products will continue to move out the door, under the guitars and past the classic vinyl LPs, for as long as he remains in business — and he has no plans to retire.
“Some herbal use is based on thousands of years of traditional use with good results,” Tokaworski said. “It’s hard to argue with that.”
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