Sierra Mountain Times

The inside of the old train depot on 19073 Standard Road has been transformed into the Nature’s Whole Food Depot, which is scheduled to open on August 8th.

Story and Photos by Thomas Atkins

Formerly a destination for travelers heading to and from the foothills, the old train depot in the quaint town of Standard will once again become a popular destination as word gets out about the transformation taking place within its wooden walls. For the past several months the once vacant building has been bustling with activity as it was being renovated to create a different kind of depot – Nature’s Whole Food Depot – a depot that many believe has been missing from the foothills for far too long.

“Our whole community has been waiting for 25 plus years for a Trader Joe’s to come in and it never came, and I just got tired of waiting,” said Carol Fox who owns the store with her husband Dan. “Now the community will have a health food store of their own and they won’t have to drive to Modesto all the time. We are hoping to develop more sustainability in our county…especially with gas prices the way they are. We really want to be a service to the community.”

Dan and Carol Fox, proud owners of Nature’s Whole Food Depot

This much-needed service is scheduled to open for business on August 8th from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

“We are having what we call a “soft opening” on 8-8-08…but we are planning a grand opening in the fall where we will have a band and all that stuff,” said Carol. “The first two days, Friday and Saturday, we will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Then we will be closed on Sunday and start back at our normal hours on Monday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. We just want to see what the needs of the community are. We might be open until 7 p.m. on Thursday and Fridays and we may end up opening on Sundays from like noon to 5 p.m.…we are just going to play it by ear and find out what people need. We will have a suggestion box and people can put in requests for certain items.”

Yet so far, the store seems like it has all its bases covered.

“It’s going to be a full service GMO (genetically modified organism) free grocery store,” explained Carol. “We are going to have as much organic products as possible…it’s all clean food; nothing sprayed. We will have products for every need. We want to have stuff for gluten free people, stuff for vegetarians, vegans, omnivores…everyone.”

The store also plans on having a book section on health and sustainability and other non-food related products.

“I even want to carry Simple shoes,” said Carol enthusiastically. “They are a Green company that makes shoes out of old tires and hemp…and they are cute, I love them. We will also sell tee shirts, African shopping baskets, hippo bags and other sustainable products. We are just trying to do as much as we can to keep it natural and healthy. The best way to sum it up would be short and simple like a bumper sticker, save gas and buy local.”

 Seth Salado figures out where to wheel one of the first food crates to arrive at the store, as he passes through Eileen Hampton’s beautiful four-season mural.

Because Nature’s Whole Food Depot is a sponsor of the Farms of Tuolumne County, many local farms and ranches will be supplying their products for sale at the store. Some of the local businesses involved are Montezuma Angus, Table Mountain Beef, Gee Family Farms, Rancho Torales and Sonora Gold, Bald Mountain Farms, Up Sprout Farms and Red Earth Farms.

“With the blend of local products and products that we get from our suppliers it is safe to say that there are no other stores like this in our area,” said Carol. “Different grocery stores have a very minimal organic section, but there are no stores that offer all of what we offer. Even the Country Store has kind of been reduced to pills and vitamins. The last big health food store we had up here burned down in the 80s. It was across from Peaceful Valley Road, and I worked there for awhile.

Throughout her childhood Carol also had plenty of experience in the food industry.
“I grew up in the grocery business,” she said. “My family owns Los Gatos Meats and Foods, so I grew up in this environment.”

With the opening of Nature’s Whole Food Depot, she is hoping to create a unique environment in the food community that mimics the practices of businesses like Trader Joe’s.

“Trader Joe’s only has like 2,000 products, but they buy directly from the farmers and that is why they can pass it on to us for such a good deal because they cut out the middle man,” said Carol. “Although we can’t do that entirely, we are still able to buy in bulk from a great company called United. They used to be called Nevada People’s Warehouse, which was where I used to order food through when I was part of the co-op. The United company are the same people I bought from but now they are in Rocklin and are a total solar energy company with acres and acres of natural food products. They are our main suppliers besides what we  receive from the locals.”

On the morning of my “sneak preview” of the store on July 29th, United was delivering the first shipment of products to the depot on 19073 Standard Road. I watched as the giant sixteen-wheeler truck backed up to the loading dock where Dan, Carol and their son Seth eagerly awaited to unload their first crates of food. As they wheeled out several monstrous food-laden crates, their smiling faces proved that their dream was becoming a reality. By next Friday all the vacant isles and rows of empty shelves will proudly display the stores products. Yet even with the shelves still empty and void of boxes and packages, the store already seemed to be full of life and energy, and there was a warm glow about the place. Part of this glow seems to come from the beautiful and vibrant four-season mural painted on the back walls by local artist Eileen Hampton. The rest of the walls were also brightly painted and you could tell a lot of love and hard work went into restoring the 1896 building.

“We completely restored the old train depot,” said Carol. “Everything was gutted and we started fresh. We added new electrical and insulation and sanded down the old floors. We tried to go about it right and used as much recycled paint and material as possible. Everyone worked real hard and put in a lot of time.”

Although a lot of the help came from their sons Seth, Jonathon, Thomas, Michael and James, Carol can’t help but give most of the credit to her husband.

“Dan is the man!” she said proudly. “He is able to redeem old stuff and make it really cool! In fact the historical society was very impressed with the way he worked with the building.”

But going through the historical society was just one of the many steps of the project.
“We found the building in October and then went through all of the different county departments getting the OK’s,” said Carol. “We had to go through the historical society, who was great and really supportive, and then through environmental health, the building department, the planning department, the weights and measures and the agriculture stuff because we really want to use as much local produce and meat as we can.”

Because of various circumstances the project started a little later than they had scheduled but Carol is very happy with the outcome.

“The Lord has really made up the lost time and everything has come together perfectly!” she said excitedly. “It is such a beautiful place and when you come in you will be so blown away. It is just a happy place to be. We look forward to getting to know more people in the community, and we hope that the depot turns into a fun place to come and shop!”

All aboard. Next stop…Nature’s Whole Food Depot. Be sure to check it out! To contact the depot, call 532-8878.