Accomplished painter and printmaker Kim Ransdell inspired our Bike Month billboard outside the Bloomingfoods Near West Side store, and has shown her work in the BloomingArts Series and other popular local venues. Kim has a letterpress printshop, The Collective Press, where inspirational messages come to life on paper against the most beautiful colored backgrounds.

A Bloomington resident since 1997, Kim worked in our East and Kirkwood stores from 2000-2002, and many of us are still wearing the 25th Anniversary t-shirts Kim designed. Kim recently shared some of her thoughts and motivations with me. Learn more about Kim’s work at her website, TheCollectivePress.com.

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If you go looking for a supplement or vitamin at Bloomingfoods East, Melissa Hunsberger can help you find what you’re looking for. Hunsberger, who has been working at the store for a year and a half, is studying nutrition at Indiana University with plans to become a registered dietician one day. Laura Gleason caught up with her to ask a few questions.

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When you get in the check-out line at Bloomingfoods to purchase your morning coffee or after-dinner snack, take a minute to say hello to your cashier. It just might result in an interesting conversation like this one I had with William Ndama, a cashier from Liberia who started working at the Near West Side in late December.

What brought you to Bloomingfoods?

I like Bloomingfoods and I eat here all the time. Cathleen Craig wanted me to work here,” William said. Craig, the manager of the Near West Side’s customer service department, got to know Ndama at the Circle K gas station at the intersection of Kirkwood and Rogers, where he used to work.
“I know a lot of people who came here from my old job; working at a gas station, you know everybody.”

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It’s springtime in Southern Indiana, a time when many of us are planning and planting our gardens. It’s also tax time, and many of us will be thinking of how best to spend our tax refunds. One woman, brand-new member Yvonne Mitchell, and her husband Sam decided to spend theirs on things that would allow them to eat better, using part of their refund on a Bloomingfoods membership. I had a chance to talk with her at length about how her family came to this decision, and about some other good things they are doing for themselves.

Yvonne told me, “We have purchased a 20-cubic foot freezer. The main motivation for it,” she said, “was to be able to stock up on healthier foods when they go on sale. Let’s face it, everyone is looking to save money right now and when I see sales, I can stock up. We are planning on buying half of a grass-fed steer from a local company.  I also buy organic chickens and we are looking into buying a full pig to put in the freezer as well.”

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Bloomingfoods really can help you find your way to better health through the establishment of fundamental nutritional changes. Here's a great account from one of our members, Natalia Rayzor, as told by East store front-end manager Tom Zeta.

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I keep getting asked, “Did you hate it there? Are you transferring?” and this one in a hushed tone, “Were you kicked out?!” 

So here’s setting the record straight, and then some. 

My name is Brenda, and I’m an undergrad at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where I am equally enamored with the college and the state. I have every intention of receiving a Brown diploma.

So why am I here?

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Last weekend's truckload sale was a wonderful event, and by virtually any measure the most successful yet: we had a great selection of products; we offered the best possible prices we could; the garden center gave us a chance to spread out a bit; all leading to the greatest sales volume we've ever experienced at this event. 

Keep reading to see a few images that capture a bit of the fun that folks had.

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