Upon entering Golden Harvest in Rhinelander, I am greeted with the irresistible fragrance of freshly baked goods and local, Wisconsin-grown produce. I weave through the mosaic of aisles studded with organic, all-natural and locally produced goods you can’t find at your average grocery store. The heavenly aroma of fresh bread wafts into my nostrils, compelling me to make my way to the deli. Soon I approach the register with a full basket and growling stomach, and I am greeted with a friendly, familiar face.
Golden Harvest Market, located on County Highway G in Rhinelander, is a small health food store owned and operated by locals Timothy and Nikki Conjurske. The couple’s success has grown tremendously through the years, which allowed them to move to their current location in Rhinelander as well as expand their Merrill store.
The Conjurskes first opened Golden Harvest in 1998 in what is now the Rhinelander Area Food Pantry on Coon Street in Rhinelander. Largely due to their success (as well as the small area of the Coon Street location), the couple moved to their current location on County Highway G in 2014, which expanded the area of the store by over half.
Although Golden Harvest is one of only a handful of organic and natural health food stores in Northern Wisconsin, the Conjurskes have demonstrated that the demand for these products exists in this area.
Owner Timothy Conjurske sheds light on how his business model has worked for him and his family to provide quality food and health products to our area.
“Our main mission is to provide better food for people that they actually can afford,” Conjurske said.
An unwillingness to sacrifice quality for price sets the Conjurskes and their business apart from the rest.
“Our biggest philosophy is just looking over the system of the way health foods stores are,” Conjurske said. “They’re usually set up to market a higher dollar item to a certain class of people and they can get it.”
But rathering than pocketing that extra cash, the Conjurskes instead chose to take that business model and turn it on its side.
“We just looked at that and said, ‘No, that’s wrong,’ let’s take this philosophy and say everyone should be able to afford this.,” Conjurske said. “So we just lowered the prices and made our business model have to match those lower prices.”
To meet this goal, the Conjurskes have stocked their store with a plethora of organic, all-natural and locally produced goods. They buy in bulk from local Mennonite communities and buy other products such as maple syrup, honey and meat that is sourced directly from local producers.
In this business model, both the farmer and distributor benefit in a symbiotic relationship.
Taking maple syrup as an example, the Conjurskes will pay the maple syrup producers more to bring their syrup to Golden Harvest than the producers would get to ship their products off to a processor.
“So they get a higher dollar for bottling their syrup themselves and bringing it to us, and then we don’t have to buy from the person who would have bought from them and needed to make a profit too,” Conjurske said. “So we get a lower price than if we had bought from the big processors. So the farmer made more money and we spent less money.”
The Conjurskes have demonstrated how local people can help support local people, and just how important it is to keep that wheel spinning. Small farmers typically use organic and/or sustainable farming methods and buying from a local farmer allows that money to stay within the community. Shopping at a local grocery store also supports local families.
Rhinelander native Nora Houghton, front desk manager at Golden Harvest, said she takes pride in working at Golden Harvest because she feels recognized and appreciated by the owners and customers.
“When people shop here, they support all of us and our children. It really builds a sense of togetherness.” Houghton said. “I feel blessed by all the customers and the people I work with, and definitely the owners. You’re kind of like family.”
Houghton said she sees a wide range of patrons enjoying all that the store has to offer.
“We do see a lot of different people here, young and old,” Houghton said. “Some people get intimidated because there’s so much stuff here or it’s like fancy, but it’s just regular people at a regular store.”
Due to their success at their Rhinelander location, the Conjurskes bought a small store in Merrill four years ago in the hopes of expanding to a second location. Now that dream is becoming a reality.
“We’re in the process of building a 17,000 square foot building, which would be the same size as our Rhinelander location, and that should be open hopefully in April,” Conjurske said.
The new Merrill store will be similar to the Rhinelander location in size, range of products and services offered, Conjurske said. The couple is looking forward to the opportunity to expand their customer base.
“We like people and we like good products, and we want to match those two together,” Conjurske said. “We’re not running a business just to try to find the best way to make money. We’re running a business for the fun of it and the good things we can do.”
In the process, the Conjurskes have demonstrated that it is indeed possible to sell high-quality health food products from local producers, all at a price consumers can afford.
It is this business model that sets the Conjurskes and Golden Harvest Market apart, but keeps them in business.
