HISTORY OF EREWHON - NATURAL FOODS ... - SoyInfo Center

(including Jean) had to unload them by hand–sometimes
hoisting them onto one shoulder. (3) Jean Allison seated at a
desk in the Erewhon office.
These photos were sent to Soyinfo Center by Jean
Allison Young of Chatham, Massachusetts, in Feb. 2011.
Letter (e-mail) from Norio Kushi. 2011. Feb. 8. These
photos were “both taken at 342 Newbury Street, Boston, in
1968 soon after the move from 303-B Newbury to 342
Newbury, in Boston. I am guessing that both photos were
taken within minutes of each other.
“The person behind the cash register, facing towards
the right in the photo is Eric Utne, who later worked at East
West Journal, eventually becoming the editor. He later left
East West Journal and he, along with his then wife, Peggy
Taylor, started New Age Journal. When Eric and Peggy split
up, Peggy retained New Age Journal, with Eric Utne soon
thereafter starting The Utne Reader. Eric Utne currently
lives in Minneapolis with his wife, Nina...
“The person facing Eric Utne, might be Jim
Ledbetter,... or it could be a customer who I have never met.
Jim Ledbetter and Jean Allison both lived at 216 Gardner
© Copyright Soyinfo Center 2011
HISTORY OF EREWHON 30
Road. in Brookline with our family during this time. Eric
Utne lived in one of the other study houses, 6 Ellery St,
Cambridge, Massachusetts.
“The 2nd photo is of the stockroom in the rear half of
the store. The size of the stockroom and how the bags of
rice and other commodities are stacked would indicate the
photos were taken soon after the move. Shelf space in the
retail section kept growing along with business, and the rear
storage room, once half the square footage of the store
began shrinking as the need to expand the retail space
increased, eventually necessitating the opening of the
warehouse at 33 Farnsworth St. in Boston. Other than
brown rice being in the burlap or paper 100 lb sacks, I don’t
know what any of the other products would be in the other
sacks or boxes.
“As I recall, we didn’t start getting the 50 lb organic
rice in the paper sacks till after the opening of the Erewhon
warehouse. Up till that point I recall the brown rice came in
the 100 lb burlap sacks. Therefore, I feel that what is in the
paper sacks would be beans and grains other than brown
rice.
“I was noticing on the selves to the left there are
smaller sacks. All the rice, grains, beans, etc were all
packaged from bulk into these bags by hand. The item that
was in these bags were rubber stamped onto the front of the
bag just prior to filling them.
“We also received many Japanese items, such as shoyu
(which we called tamari), miso, and umeboshi in those bulk
wooden kegs. They were hand poured or scooped into
bottles and jars. I don’t see any of these items in this photo.
The store photo was also rather Spartan, which is what lead
me to feel that these photos were taken soon after moving
from 303-B Newbury St. to 342 Newbury St. “I would stop
by the store regularly but didn’t actually ‘work’ there during
this time. I used to some in and just help out after school or
on Saturdays just for the fun of it.
“At the prior location at 303-B Newbury St, I spent
many full Saturdays helping out. I was there one Saturday
when we had the very first day we did over $100.00 in
sales. The other person who was working on that day was
Jean Mohan. At least during the 303-B Newbury Street
days, people who lived in our house at 216 Gardner Rd,
Brookline, MA, would take turns working at the store,
although Evan Root was the manager.”
Letter (e-mail) from Evan Root. 2011. Feb. 10. These
two photos “are of the store at 342 Newbury St. This was
the ‘first edition.’ It was, of course, remodeled from the
shell that was rented. But it is before a bigger remodeling
which yielded the whole first floor for the store, bins for
grains and beans, and a walk-in refrigerator where the office
was. The accounting office and storage moved to the
basement and a winched lift to bring the goods up for
stocking.” Address: Boston, Massachusetts.