A&C The store has a wide selection of herbs, teas, minerals and more that serve as modern medicine. Mountain Rose’s vintage and warm atmosphere offers a welcoming feeling as costumers shop around for natural and safe products. (Mary Grosswendt/Emerald)
A MODERN, LOCAL HERBAL RESOURCE SHOP BY BRANDON ROTH • TWITTER @BRANDON.ROTH
Mountain Rose Herbs Mercantile makes it simple for people to buy organic and sustainable items such as teas and bath products. Entering into the Mountain Rose Herbs Mercantile shop, you are immediately surrounded by various sized glass containers of herbs, salts and oils. Spices such as chili peppers and basil are displayed in clear valves attached to the walls and dried tea buds fill the exposed shelves underneath the check-out desk. High glass ceilings supply natural lighting to the shop, giving the interior an open atmosphere. There is a vintage feeling throughout the store — old cash registers are decorated throughout and bronze phonograph light fixtures hang low from the roof. The merchandise is organized under specialized signs and is stacked on top of aged wooden wagons and shelves.
Lydia Fish, store retail manager, believes strongly in the value of the shop’s natural products. “There is always a time and place for Western medicine eventually, but what's available to us naturally is usually undermined,” she said. Eugene’s Mountain Rose Herbs Mercantile ensures its botanical and herb products are USDA Organic, non-GMO and Kosher certified. Customers can buy all types of products such as herbal lozenges and extracts to help treat common colds or headaches. Some customers come in to buy seasonings while others make their own face cream concoctions with the butters and waxes from the store.
Connor Holt, a customer who works for a tea company, makes the trip down to Eugene every few weeks to buy his favorite tea. Holt said he does not know much about herbal products but tries his best to buy products that are “environmentally conscious.” “I like how the store is organic and local in the community,” Holt said. “You can get whatever you want here related to herbalism.” Fish said she is “always learning new stuff” at Mountain Rose. Fish believes there are millions of ways to use the products in the store such as creating bath bombs, skin creams and pill capsules. For thousands of years, plants and minerals were the only
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