Hey Sweeties,

Recently I was very kindly invited down to my local NutriCentre to meet the team and learn more about who they are, the services they offer and the products they sell… and I wasn’t disappointed! However, since my visit and the writing of this post (a mere month as my wedding has quite inconveniently sodded up my schedule of posts), and I have learned that, after 25 years, the NutriCentre have taken the decision to close their stores. Of course I don’t have all the information and there now presents the question of whether I still post this review, but I will anyway if only to raise awareness that such places do exist and how important it is to use them. Before I discovered the NutriCentre, I regularly visited my local Holland & Barrett and while I absolutely will remain a dedicated customer, it saddens me that I didn’t acknowledge my local NutriCentre sooner as I feel they have so much more to offer customers. Here’s why:

As you know, in recent months I have pursued a more plant-based/vegan diet and from speaking to friends, colleagues and acquaintances, one of the key contributors to more not doing the same, is the perception that to live this way requires a lot of specialist products and knowledge, much of it unavailable in your mainstream stores. To be fair this is in some respects true but things are changing and it’s the likes of the NutriCentre who were/are at the forefront of this new movement. But this doesn’t just apply to food, the NutriCentre’s team of highly knowledgeable staff can help you with so much more, particularly concerning health and wellbeing. Sometimes people are very quick to go to the Doctors for every niggle and upset, but actually, so much advice (and sometimes treatment) is available in health stores.

So who are/were they? Part of the Tesco Group, NutriCentre stores can/could be found across the country based within large Tesco stores so not only can you pop in while doing your weekly shop to get those slightly more harder to find products, but they also actually advise(d) Tesco on products that should be more widely available to customers on the shelves. For me, it’s really positive to see such a large supermarket taking the initiative to work with authorised resources that ultimately influence what the brand choose to buy and stock. The NutriCentre also held a strong personal philosophy to help and educate and were active in supporting local communities and schools; I know from first hand that they were often in my local gym with advice and products for members to try out.

To give you an idea of the enormity of products and brands they stocked, let the following images do the talking.

Despite recent developments, have you guys ever visited your local NutriCentre? If not, are you at least more encouraged to now at least pursue seeking out such stores? Please let me know in the comments.

I would also like to say a huge thank you to the team (Jay, Rose and Hara) at NutriCentre Slough for taking the time to speak to me and for the amazing pile of goodies I left with.

On another note, I would like to thank you all for your patience with both the lack of and inconsistency of posts recently owing to my time being thoroughly consumed with all things wedding. However, I can promise you that things are getting back on schedule and very shortly you’ll hardly remember that I was absent.

Until next time x