The 90s

The Hot Counter

After the closure of the café, selling hot food became a regular part of the shop. To this end, a hot counter was installed, creating an easy way of storing and selling the myriad of food on offer. It also created a new environment to talk to customers, engaging them on recipes, cooking ideas or just deliberating over which meal to buy and eat. This really helped our whole food ethic, as people had direct contact with both the food they enjoyed, and right next to it the ingredients to try cooking themselves.

Sadly, it was decided to remove the hot counter in the late 90’s, to be replaced by a more manageable cold counter. On the plus side, this meant meals and snacks could be made and sold for a couple of days afterwards, meaning a more consistent availability of food. But like the café and restaurant, financial viability was ultimately the downfall of the hot counter, and Arjuna couldn’t reasonably front the losses any more.

The Health Centre

In 1996, a new co-operative was formed, comprising several members of Arjuna who wished to practice alternative and natural health therapies. This had been dabbled with informally in the past, but now was formalised in the renting of the upstairs floor of the building, and the creation of two therapy rooms. And so the Health centre was born, and gradually evolved into the Clinic for Contemporary Therapies, as it is today.

Soon, more therapists joined, inspired by the rooms on offer and the prospect of practicing in a co-operative environment. It was uncommon to find a practice not available through the Health centre, and people started seeking remedies suggested to them upstairs on the shop floor. This shaped our range of products, including homeopathic remedies, several odd but useful herbs, and a small range of supplements for those worried about their nutritional intake.