After spending nearly 10 years tucked away in the Driftwood Plaza on Route 72, located in the Beach Haven West section of Stafford Township, Pangaea Naturals Health Food Market has finally moved to a more focal location. The business reopened its doors to the public in the Manahawkin Mart on East Bay Avenue, located across the street from AtlantiCare and Retro Fitness, on Tuesday, Sept. 17.
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| Photo by Ryan Morrill Pangaea owners are happy to have a more organized produce section. |
“There are a lot of like-minded healthy businesses over here,” said Becky Tarditi, a co-owner of Pangaea. “We love the promenade out front where people can sit and have grab-and-go sandwiches and things and eat outside. It gives us the opportunity to have more community events here, which is really a plus for us.”
Considered what many people are calling “downtown Manahawkin,” or DoMa for short, Pangaea appears to be the missing piece in the updated flea market shopping area, which already included The Schwee Tea Co., a café and smoothie and juice bar that offers mostly organic, plant-based food options, as well as Cake That!, which was featured on Food Network’s “Cupcake Wars,” a Jetty apparel shop, La Bamba Mexican Restaurant and other contemporary stores.
Though not necessarily any bigger than its former location, the new building layout has made it easier for Tarditi and her husband and business partner, Mike Greenblatt, to expand the store’s organic product line.
“Anything that can be organic, any food product at all, if we can get it certified organic, than we get it,” said Greenblatt. “If not, then we make sure it’s natural. Every product in this store has been reviewed by Becky and myself, every single one. So every product in this store we have chosen ourselves.”
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| Photo by Ryan Morrill The natural health food market offers only certified organic produce. |
Pangaea, what Greenblatt and Tarditi consider their “encore career” after they both held former careers in technology and real estate, opened in 2003 after the community’s only health food store, Earth Goods in Manahawkin where Premium Blend Tattoos is now located, went out of business.
“Ex-hippies” who started eating cleanly in the 1960s and ’70s during their late 20s, Greenblatt and Tarditi decided to open the store to help keep the lifestyle from fading in the area.
“There needed to be a health food store in our community, and there wasn’t going to be one anymore,” said Greenblatt. “It’s been our lifestyle to shop in health food stores and live the lifestyle of clean living and organic foods.”
Besides its reorganized merchandise and new store complete with an office made from 150-year-old reclaimed barn wood from central Pennsylvania, Pangaea has been rebranded with a new logo and store colors, having switched from its former yellow and maroon to a cooler green and blue. Greenblatt’s daughter Kristine helped design the new space, while his other daughter, Tanya, helped with planning and his son, Nikolas, did the graphic designing.
“We call this version two,” said Greenblatt.
Last month, Pangaea’s owners moved their entire store into the new space within 30 days, after the former lease was up. The task required help from family members and friends as well as from outside contractors that sent over teams of people to help install new freezers and refrigerators and set up new product orders and shelves.
“The last six days were the actual move,” said Greenblatt. “In those six days we moved everything from that old store to this store, which was built and ready to receive it at that point. The floor was done, the barn was done, all the planning was done, exterior things, plumbing, painting and electrical all done. Everything was planned out in detail.”
So far, the owners said the response to the new location has been “really good.”
Tarditi and Greenblatt hope to host community events at the store in the future.
Pangaea will hold a grand reopening and birthday celebration in honor of its 10 years in business during Halloween weekend. Prepared foods, product giveaways and demonstrations are just some of the many special offerings expected.
The store offers new, extended hours. It is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday. For the first time, Pangaea is also open on Sunday, from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, visit pangaeanaturals.com.
–Kelley Anne Essinger
This article was published in The SandPaper.
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