Congratulations to Down to Earth All Vegetarian stores - for their recognition by Vegetarian Times Magazine Veg25 hot list!

Find all five Down to Earth stores Oahu & Maui locations at: www.HawaiiHealthGuide.com/directory/

Or visit their educational website for more info: www.downtoearth.org 

Here is the full story by Erika Engle from www.starbulletin.com/business/

The Hawaii-based, Maui-born five-store chain gets national exposure in the January issue of Vegetarian Times magazine, which named it No. 3 on its "Veg25 hot list of fresh voices, ingenious products and handy resources" for 2009.

The magazine compares shopping at Down to Earth to "the limitless feeling you get in a veg restaurant," where a diner needn't worry about a dish's ingredients. The magazine reports that every product the store sells is free of meat, fish oils, gelatin and animal rennet and tells a bit more about the store.

The top two Veg25 listees were Iced Bliss, a line of soy- and rice-based ice creams and veganetsy.etsy.com, a community of artisans selling cruelty-free crafts online.

The magazine contacted Marketing Director Frank Santana a few months ago asking for information.

"They wanted an update on where we are and what we're doing and so I gave them what they needed," he said.

He didn't know how the magazine was going to use it until the issue arrived, "and you can imagine my surprise!" he said.

"Vegetarian Times wrote about us quite a few years ago, but we've been off the radar for quite a long time," he said.

A large part of the blip that got it back on the radar was its repositioning as a 100-percent vegetarian store, not just a health food store or a natural food store. The differentiation is more significant than an omnivore might realize.

"The Vegetarian Times recognition of Down to Earth is particularly auspicious because there are so few all-vegetarian stores in the nation," Santana said.

Many natural supplements, for instance, are sold in capsules that are often made from a material derived from cow hooves. Not at Down to Earth, where foods and supplements are plant-based.

"This is a values-based company," Santana said. "From the start, the idea was to promote a healthier lifestyle through organic and natural foods and a vegetarian lifestyle."

While not popular with the mainstream on Maui when established in 1977, a core group was interested, kept it going, "and it caught on," he said. "They were ahead of the power curve, by decades."