According to Cambridge Dictionary ‘larder‘ means a cupboard or a small room used, especially in the past, for storing food in someone’s home.
In case you were wondering what hides behind the name of this cute, little shop in the heart of Aberdeen! I really love the idea – a place, where the nature stores and ‘hides’ its produce and its healthy gems. A really smart name, which corresponds to the idea of the shop – selling healthy, natural ingredients and goods.
As you know, Aberdeen does not have a reputation of a city with enormous amount of healthy shops. If you ask the average Aberdonian consumer, they would probably name Holland & Barrett. No surprise, there are a few H&B stores in town. This lovable shop is on one of the main streets in the city – Holburn street, so it is easy to find and it is possible to just walk in without initially wanting to! The shop’s identity is pretty simplistic, which is great as it once again strengthens its mission. The main colour they are using for their interior is dark green. According to Scott-Kemmis (2017) green promotes the love of nature and renews and restores depleted energy. It is also a great balancer of mental, emotional and physical energies.
The shop itself is not very big, which makes it very cozy! I wondered in it for about 20 minutes probably, just looking around, reading almost every label and enjoying the diversity of products. The staff is really polite as I was asked whether I need help etc. and then on the till, there was a short talk, so I left with a very warm and nice feeling because of the people, working there!
The shop is independent and they sell lots of healthy goods. They even pack certain things such as nuts, oats, flours, granolas etc, so you can buy them in smaller packs. There is a huge variety of raw sweets, teas, nut butters, nut milks, flours, oats etc. You can find a whole shelf of raw, healthy chocolates (this is the only place I have found some of the Loving Earth chocolates, as I love them!). You can find different packs of nuts, seeds, also chips and lots of gluten-free items. On the other hand, there are also things like nutritional yeast, maca and lucuma powders etc. There are health & beauty shelves as well, but in fact, I did not pay much attention.
There is no freezer but a fridge, in which there is ice cream, vegan cheeses, tofu and soy products as well as drinks such as Rebel Kitchen’s mylks!
There is a lot to take home, but not much that you can eat straight away (this is not a cafe, so this is absolutely understandable. You can always grab a cookie or a raw bar).
This is not completely vegan as they sell protein powders, including whey products.
In terms of the prices, I believe most healthy shops in Aberdeen (Holland & Barret and The Grampian in particular) have the same prices – for example the Engevita Nutritional Yeast with B12 was £3.29 in all 3 shops.
What I particularly like is that they sell lots of local products – such as nut butters (Hungry Squirrel), local packed granolas (with honey), local healthy chocolates etc. This is great! As the healthy eating community in Aberdeen is getting bigger and bigger!
Opening times:
Location: 60 Holburn Street, AB10 6BX, Aberdeen
Have you visited Nature’s larder and what are your thoughts?
– Aberlicious –
Aberliciously healthy 