Small Business Saturday Blog

The shop has been owned by Mike and Loes Abrahams since it was established in 1981, inspired by their passion for the ‘wild and wonderful’ world of healthy wholefoods. It was a complete change of career for Mike, who stepped away from the European space agency to set up the business.

There were few shops of its kind around in those days, but the demand for healthy wholefoods was growing rapidly and their leap of faith paid off: the shop went quickly from strength to strength.

The store now offers a huge selection of health and wellbeing products; award-winning organic breads, natural and organic foods, a wide range of chilled and frozen products, extensive deli, organic wines and beers (suitable for both vegetarians and vegans), natural health products, nutritional supplements, homeopathic remedies and aromatherapy, bath and beauty items, natural baby care, cosmetics, and scoop bins for loose buying of grains, pulses, dried fruits and nuts.

Marketing manager Jordan says that they took part in Amex’s Shop Small ‘spend £10, get £5 back’ offer between June and September 2020 and value the Shop Small initiative. “Anything which helps customers to find us and encourages people to shop small and shop local is incredibly valuable for small businesses like ours, as well as benefiting our customers.”

Wild Oats always aims to cater to all and to offer a complete shopping experience. It runs a free service for those seeking advice on supplements and dietary advice, and their staff live the ethos of the store and are well placed to give whole body advice.

Wild Oats prides itself on using local suppliers wherever possible, carefully sourcing produce from honey, to deli items and a variety of other groceries from across the Bristol and Somerset region. It also works with other nearby businesses to promote the area, share products and use local tradesmen. It also recently launched a ‘Buy 2 Take 1’ campaign to support their local community, which encourages customers to buy an extra product each time they shop, which will then be donated to a local charity.