Staff of Life health foods prepares to open its doors in Watsonville

WATSONVILLE, Calif. (KION) Staff of Life, a health foods grocery store, is preparing to open its doors for the first time at a new location in Watsonville.

Workers spent their Monday stocking vegetables, vitamins and other healthy goods as they prepared for opening day.

Staff of Life had its one and only store in Santa Cruz since 1969 and despite pandemic setbacks, the owners say they were able to get community resources together to get the new Watsonville location up and running.

“Not only did we have to shut down for a period of about four months, when the surges started coming in, we decided to put everything on a slow going forward because we didn’t want to end up opening up in the midst of a mass surge," says Life of Staff Co-owner Gary Bascou.

The owners say they chose the Watsonville location to address the need for more healthy foods in the local community and to bring more access to healthy and organic choices to those who may not have it.

“Our customers tell us all the time, they want us down here because they just can’t access this kind of food," says Richard Josephson, Staff of Life Co-owner.

Staff members say having these kinds of options is especially important for some hard-hit communities and groups during the pandemic.

“We must also help our local Latino community, we should eat healthier to have good mental and overall health," says store manager Nadia Scally.

The staff adds this will also help the local economy by having produce from local farms and suppliers and creating more jobs for local community members.

“In these times where so many people have lost their jobs, we’re adding a good seventy, seventy five jobs to the market, so that’s big, I’m very proud of that," says Josephson.

The owners say they initially planned the opening for September of 2020, but say now is a good time to promote health to local communities.

As far as plans for further expansion, Bascou and Josephson say they are taking things one store at a time.

Staff of Life is opens its Watsonville location to the public on Tuesday, March 30th.

For more information or to apply for open job positions, visit https://www.staffoflifemarket.com