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Canton, Ohio —
Canton, Stark and lower Summit County residents looking for fresh, organic foods no longer have to travel to too far to get a wide selection of frozen and fresh organic produce, vegetables, meat and dairy.
The Raisin Rack on Cleveland Ave. in Canton expanded their store by 8,500 square feet to 18,000 square feet and filled the new space with the organic and healthy selections customers have been asking for in the store.
Founder Don Caster grew up in the Canton area. He graduated St. Thomas Aquinas High School and Walsh College in North Canton. Caster taught in the Canton City School District until 1978. Caster and his wife opened their first store on 39th and Cleveland Ave. the same year he quit teaching. It moved to its current location in 1992-93.
“My mother was diagnosed with cancer of the tongue and later lung cancer and we took her to The Ohio State Medical Center in Columbus at the suggestion of her local doctor and she died within two months. The doctor said she actually died from malnutrition,” Caster said.
“She couldn’t eat or swallow because part of her tongue had been removed. In those days, there were no juicing or nutrition drinks like Ensure so she didn’t have many options then. They were giving her carbonated beverages to settle her stomach,” he said.
The only other drink available at the time was milk and Caster’s mother was allergic to milk. He and his wife started researching, reading and studying on nutritional options including juicing. Caster and wife started learning about juicing in 1976 and they opened their first store based on their research findings two years later. He and his wife, who was a teacher at Central Catholic High School, quit their teaching jobs to pursue the business.
The current store is located inside what was a McDonald’s. The latest expansion is the fourth time the building has been modified. There were two other stores in the area, one in Canal Fulton and one in Belpar Square in the Belden Village area. Both of those stores have been consolidated into the one store on Cleveland Ave.
Caster’s wife developed an illness and they moved to Columbus for medical treatment and they opened a store in 1983 in Westerville, northeast of Columbus. Caster said they once had four stores located throughout Columbus and have combined those into one store. They have been approached by other major metropolitan areas in the Midwest to open stores but Caster said they felt an obligation to the Canton store to make it the best it could be before they moved to other locations.
Canton, Stark and lower Summit County residents looking for fresh, organic foods no longer have to travel to too far to get a wide selection of frozen and fresh organic produce, vegetables, meat and dairy.
The Raisin Rack on Cleveland Ave. in Canton expanded their store by 8,500 square feet to 18,000 square feet and filled the new space with the organic and healthy selections customers have been asking for in the store.
Founder Don Caster grew up in the Canton area. He graduated St. Thomas Aquinas High School and Walsh College in North Canton. Caster taught in the Canton City School District until 1978. Caster and his wife opened their first store on 39th and Cleveland Ave. the same year he quit teaching. It moved to its current location in 1992-93.
“My mother was diagnosed with cancer of the tongue and later lung cancer and we took her to The Ohio State Medical Center in Columbus at the suggestion of her local doctor and she died within two months. The doctor said she actually died from malnutrition,” Caster said.
“She couldn’t eat or swallow because part of her tongue had been removed. In those days, there were no juicing or nutrition drinks like Ensure so she didn’t have many options then. They were giving her carbonated beverages to settle her stomach,” he said.
The only other drink available at the time was milk and Caster’s mother was allergic to milk. He and his wife started researching, reading and studying on nutritional options including juicing. Caster and wife started learning about juicing in 1976 and they opened their first store based on their research findings two years later. He and his wife, who was a teacher at Central Catholic High School, quit their teaching jobs to pursue the business.
The current store is located inside what was a McDonald’s. The latest expansion is the fourth time the building has been modified. There were two other stores in the area, one in Canal Fulton and one in Belpar Square in the Belden Village area. Both of those stores have been consolidated into the one store on Cleveland Ave.
Caster’s wife developed an illness and they moved to Columbus for medical treatment and they opened a store in 1983 in Westerville, northeast of Columbus. Caster said they once had four stores located throughout Columbus and have combined those into one store. They have been approached by other major metropolitan areas in the Midwest to open stores but Caster said they felt an obligation to the Canton store to make it the best it could be before they moved to other locations.
“We want to say thank you to the community for supporting us from the beginning. Our customers here have continually asked us for more at this store and we wanted to provide it for them,” Caster said.
The new addition offers fresh produce, bulk items, frozen foods selections, dairy and vegetarian items. Caster feels organic foods offer a taste improvement and takes people back to what foods were 50 or 60 years ago. Because of the dramatic processing changes over the past 60 years, foods taste blander than in the past. Organic foods taste better due in large part to higher levels of minerals and nutrients.
“When we started to mass produce foods including produce and vegetables, we started to sacrifice nutritional value to control costs. Farmers have to increase yields and produce more. Having free range chickens raised on good grain versus keeping chickens in a cubicle until they are killed makes a difference in the quality of the food,” Caster said.
There is a perception that organic foods cost more than commercial foods. Caster said that many people are surprised at the low prices of the bananas and apples at his store. He tries to buy as much local as he can and carries produce that is in season.
“We only carry organic produce and no commercial produced will offered in our stores. Which means we only offer strawberries when they are in season and available because we are not buying them from around the world,” he said.
Customers can find a selection of organic meats such as chicken and bacon. The store does carry beef but with the current nationwide beef shortage, prices of beef have gone up four times in the past seven weeks so Caster has stopped carrying beef for now.
“Costs for beef have a lot to do with transportation and grain costs,” Caster said.
Raisin Rack offers fresh produce with as much local products as they can buy, a large convenience frozen foods section, an extensive vegetarian/vegan section (fresh, frozen or convenience), large selection of gluten-free foods, a health and beauty section filled with items not tested on animals, a large supplement section that carries all of the things Dr. Oz talks about and a pet section with organic pet foods and other supplies.
Other organic groceries include ketchups, mustards and vinegars and other items such as recycled paper products. Caster said customers can do most of their grocery shopping in the store now.
“We started as a juicing store and we still have a juice bar and make fresh juice every day. Juicing and wheat grass both have very specific audiences and not many stores will do juicing every day. People will drink juices for weight loss, energy, fitness or watching calories and nutritional value,” Caster said.
The entire building has also been remolded with new paint, floors ceiling and lighting. The store has installed energy efficient systems for lighting and air flow. More than 15,000 customers visit the store monthly. There are 25 full and part time employees.
Caster said the store has been long known for the gluten-free section and the organic produce, with the expansion of the produce section, he feels that people will get to know the store for vegan and vegetarian, which is where the most growth has been.
“I wanted to give the Canton community what’s available in bigger cities and we strive to fill the needs of the community. We’d like to be known for our prices, selection and service. We have to be good at what we do or we might as well forget it,” Caster said.
What: Raisin Rack Natural Food Market
Where: 4629 Cleveland Ave. NW, Canton, OH, 330-966-1515
Hours: Mondays- Fridays, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays noon to 5 p.m.
Find monthly specials: Check the Web site for monthly specials, www.raisinrack.net
