Sanitarium returns to shopfront
Sanitarium has chosen the Brisbane central business district as the location for its pilot Australian health food store. The company has opened a shop in 145 Eagle St after buying the Aztec Coffee business and taking over its lease. While it has operated health food stores all around Australia from about 1904, in the mid-1980s Sanitarium shut up shop due to the push out of strip shopping into malls. But—in a bid to reinvigorate its brand—the 110-year-old company has decided that it will open its first health food store in more than 20 years. Deborah Peralta of Sanitarium said the idea was to return the company to its original roots and bring healthy food direct to people through caring and considerate service. She said she had searched Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane for nearly two years to find the right spot for the shop. “I walked the streets of Brisbane looking for a site,” she said. “I was looking for a premises that was in a corporate business area that would afford me some outdoor space, as well as create something beautiful inside.” The Eagle Street shop has 87sq m of internal space plus an outdoor dining area. Ms Peralta said the company had already carried out some refurbishments, particularly the outdoor area—which was repaved, fitted with retractable awnings and decorated with lemon trees and fresh rosemary. The Courier Mail (Brisbane), April 25.
