Well In Hand owner Debra Lemme stands outside her Port Elgin store July 12. She is holding a special anniversary celebration on July 22 and included will be a draw for a barbecue.

Hub Staff

Fifteen years ago, in July 2002, Debra Lemme opened the doors of Well in Hand to the Saugeen Shores community. At the time she ran a Holistic Nutritional counselling program near Owen Sound and her clients asked her to open up in the area.

“I had a lot of my clients that were coming to me from Saugeen Shores and they wanted me here,” said Lemme. “They requested that I open [in Saugeen Shores] and so they brought me here.”

The business started “very, very, small,” she said. “It was just the supplements and the consulting and massage therapy was in the back.” Lemme added that over time more and more was added. “Everything in the store is chosen by the community, that's why it does well because people have come in and requested things and that's how we've brought things into the store.”

Lemme said that she was “incredibly happy and proud” of the store and credited its success to hard work. “The only way to stay in business is to work really hard, so that's really the advice I give anybody else when they have a business. You've got to work, there's no way around it. It doesn't come easy.”

Carrying a large variety of natural health supplements, books on health related issues, sports nutrition products, natural beauty products, protein powders, gluten free and other allergen free foods and much more, Lemme said that ongoing training and keeping up to date on such things as skin, digestion and cancer, was the biggest part of the job.

“All my staff and I are always in training, whether it's in Toronto, Vancouver, online, we're always in training, so we're always up to date with what is happening everywhere,” said Lemme. “We're such a team that if we know someone knows a little bit more about that subject we will send that person [to the customer]. We're a real team, everybody has their strengths. They're all really educated.”

To celebrate the milestone, the holistic nutrition store, located at 522 Goderich Street in Port Elgin, is having an anniversary celebration at the store on Saturday, July 22 from 10 am to 4 pm. “We'll have pop the balloon, gift baskets to draw and demos,” explained Lemme, adding that there will also be a draw to win a barbecue and free goodie goodie bags for the first 50 people.

Well-In-Hand is celebrating 15 years with an anniversary celebration at the store on Saturday, July 22.