Providing customers with healthy products is natural for the Meyerson family.

“We’re all about helping people take the journey whether they’re walking in here to just shop or have three weeks to live,” said Wendy Meyerson, owner of Natur-Tyme. “And we get that spread on a daily basis.”

The pharmaceutical business runs in Meyerson’s family — both her grandfather and father were pharmacists, and her father, Stan Meyerson, owned a pharmacy for over 30 years. But because of health issues, her father changed his lifestyle and started learning about nutritional supplements. In the early 1980s, he started implementing supplements into his own pharmacy.

“This was unheard of at the time,” Meyerson said. “He put vitamin C and vitamin E on the counter, and started educating central New York about the benefits of nutritional supplements.”

He then bought the existing health food store Natur-Tyme, which was originally in East Syracuse, while also running another health food store, Drumlins Health Shop. After retiring and selling his pharmacy, he relocated Natur-Tyme to the west side of Syracuse — its home for the next 10 years. And when Meyerson, who grew up in Syracuse, moved back home, she bought her father’s store in 2001. A year after taking over Natur-Tyme, Meyerson doubled its size by relocating the store to Bridge Street in East Syracuse. The store is now located on Erie Boulevard East.

With her two children, Meyerson came back to Syracuse after living in Houston for 20 years. Because she loved retail, she decided to “embrace the alternative, complimentary, holistic world” of health and wellness.

“It was a long journey,” Meyerson said. “I wasn’t on board in the beginning, but as I saw our customers getting results and seeing responses, I started to introduce them into my own life and became amazed at all of the options there were to do things a bit more naturally versus pharmaceutically, whether it was cosmetics, food or supplements.”

In addition to running the store, Meyerson also for 12 years hosted “Nutritional Insights,” a radio show on 570 WSYR her father started. The show is live every Sunday, where Meyerson interviews local farmers, massage therapists, and health experts to introduce Syracuse to healthy new ideas and concepts. She said that as patients started educating themselves about their own health, she saw a shift in the relationship between patients and physicians.

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“It was a beautiful thing to see,” Meyerson said. “That there was more openness and willingness to listen and explore, and even possibly suggest some hands-on healing modalities as well as nutritional supplements and bringing some dietary changes into the mix.”

Walk into the shop and you’ll immediately notice that the colossal space houses thousands of organic, local products. The store has everything from high-quality pet supplements to natural household items to a large bulk of herbs, grains, teas and more. Wellness and health educators are also present to help customers find the right supplements.

Natur-Tyme holds monthly workshops and an annual spring health fair at the New York State Fairgrounds with expert speakers and dozens of vendors. Meyerson, who loves to plan events, started the first fair under a tent in Natur-Tyme’s parking lot 18 years, moving to the New York State Fairgrounds for 16 years before relocating to the massive Horticulture Building this year. The next health fair is April 23.

“Natur-Tyme is built on education and empowerment, whether that’s through all the different types of events that we do, or whether they’re here inside of our store,” Meyerson said.

The store’s current location on Erie Boulevard is its third. They moved into the 15,000-square-foot space five years ago, which features an all-natural salon, the “Enhanced Beauty Salon,” with massages, hair services, facials “all using the cleanest products to get the results you want,” Meyerson said. There’s also “Tyme-Out Cafe,” with gluten-free smoothies, juices, gelato, shakes, coffee and more, permeated with the scent of their famous chili.

Because many of her father’s customers are now in their 70s and 80s, Meyerson said the store has been experiencing a shift in recent years. But Meyerson, proudly carrying on her father’s legacy, is still committed to serving the local community through Natur-Tyme.

“We’re still part of this community and that’s our number one priority,” Meyerson said. “You can find things in the grocery store, in the drug store, but you can’t find the commitment and the passion that my staff provides for the customer and for people who appreciate that, that’s what Natur-Tyme is all about.”

Published on April 12, 2017 at 10:15 pm