Natural Grocers extended me this experience in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own. See my disclosure statement.

On Valentine's Day, Russ and I got to go on a lunch date to an event at Natural Grocers in Clive, Iowa. The company has been in existence since 1955, but this store just recently opened up. It is their 110th store, but the first one in Iowa.

Walking into the store, it reminded me of a small, hometown market. The displays were small but beautiful. The staff was available and friendly.

Natural Grocers in Clive has a meeting room in the front of the store where the lunch was hosted. Our place setting was filled with wonderful literature, coupons, a shopping bag, and even a gift card to the store. I even found out non-profits can use the meeting room free of charge.

The menu was filled with deliciousness and served to us in courses as we heard a presentation about the company's history, health food information, and learned about the products in the store itself. I was pleased to find out that all items in the store must meet very high standards. There are no artificial colors, sweeteners, or GMOs in any product in the store among other things. 

After the lunch, Russ and I walked around the store and shopped. Natural Grocers prides themselves in keeping the costs as low as possible. Natural and organic foods can be expensive, but they do all they can to keep prices low for their customers. It was a pleasing sight to see the checkout line with healthy items for the body and mind.

We spent our gift cards (plus a little more) on some tasty items. Many of the brands I was already familiar with, but there were so many things more in the store I would like to go back and discover.

One other side note I want to include was how impressed I was with learning about how they treat their employees. Employees are employed full time as much as possible to they can receive benefits. They are also paid a living wage and receive discounts in the store. No one is allowed to work a closing shift and then an opening shift the next day. How great is that?

Do you have a Natural Grocers in your area? What do you think?