In April Chesham independent specialist health shop Healthright celebrated 30 years of trading.
Starting life as a Lifecycle franchise in 1986, the store was founded by Roger and Tessa Oliver. Although Tessa is still a director, she has been enjoying her retirement since 2014, but Roger is still actively involved and has no immediate plans for retiring.
Remembering the first few days of trading in 1986, Roger recalls hearing a passerby comment to her companion “I wonder how long that will last?”. “I hope she is still around to see we are still here!” he says.
Roger puts the survival of the business down to keeping up with the changing market, and being willing to learn from customers. One of the biggest changes over the years has been that customers have become much more knowledgeable, he says: “Although many still see us as a source of information, most people who come to us have already done some research on the products they are looking for. They are often primarily looking for a trustworthy source of supply.”
Although he is still tempted to try out lots of new products, Roger has found it much better to rely on customer requests when it comes to stocking new products. “I am really grateful to our many loyal customers and to my wife for enabling me to successfully fulfil my dream of having my own business,” he says.
Healthright continues to strive to provide information on natural solutions for health problems, for example working with the local Bagnall Centre for Integrated Health. In the last couple of years seminars have been jointly arranged on various topics, with speakers such as Gareth Zeal and Ben Brown.
Manager Ellen Perrin shopped there as a teenager and has worked at the store for five years. “I would like to say how grateful the staff are to Roger and Tessa for keeping the shop going so long because we absolutely love it here. They live and breathe their ethical beliefs and they run the shop like that. Roger and Tessa are so lovely and only stock things they personally believe in. They run the shop as they live their lives – very ethically – which is very refreshing!”
