As reported in Saturday’s edition of the Bulletin, Nature’s General Store, the health and natural foods store that has been an anchor in the Wagner Mall for three decades, will be closing its doors this year.

[Owner Debbie] Sloan announced the closure via her newsletter to subscribers Thursday. She said the store would be offering discounts before it closes for good. While she declined to give a date for the closure, she said it would happen before the end of the year.

Sloan, a Bend resident since 1976, opened Nature’s in 1983 with her husband, Gordon. Sloan said the couple was inspired by their daughter’s recovery from leukemia a couple years prior to 1983, and Nature’s was primarily dedicated to health supplements when it first opened. The store gradually added meat and produce and is now primarily a grocer.

The primary reason cited for the closure is increased corporate competition, particularly from Natural Grocers (which opened up two years ago in the Bend River Promenade).

This is too bad, along with Devore’s (which opened in 1977) Nature’s paved the way for the natural/organic food stores in Bend, and being in the Wagner Mall is a great midtown/Third Street presence that’s otherwise lacking. Would be nice to see something similar open up in that space.