BUTTE — A small grocery store in Butte that specializes in organic food and health supplements not only survived the period of the coronavirus shutdown, but it also has thrived.
“We were busy. Taking orders over the phone and then delivering them is a lot more difficult than having people shop for themselves,” said Judith Duryea, owner of the grocery store.
Deemed essential, the Dancing Rainbow Natural Grocery store, which has been operating in Butte for 35 years, was fortunate to remain open during the quarantine.
There’s not much elbow room in this tiny store off Montana Street, but it served a big need during the early days of the coronavirus.
“Nobody could find beans or rice, baking yeast in the grocery store, and we still had them, and produce we just been ordering tons and tons and tons of produce,” said Duryea.
The store's large supply of vitamins and health supplements made it very popular among people concerned about staying healthy during the virus.
“Vitamin C and zinc were hard to find, a lot of people were doing probiotics because those are really the bases for a strong immune system just to keep your defenses up should you be exposed you’ll have some resilience to it,” said Duryea.
This unique store has everything from organic products to rose hips, and the owner is confident they are going to make it through these difficult, uncertain times.
“We were so incredibly fortunate to be a grocery store to be able to stay open. I don’t think we would have survived either if we didn’t have that ability to be open,” said Duryea.
