Who We Are

Take a 150 year old building in the middle of Todmorden, add to it a comprehensive range of organic local produce, wholefoods, herbs, herbal and homeopathic medicines, cafe serving wholesome vegetarian food cooked on the premises, and begin to have a picture of Bear Healthfoods, an organisation which has come a long way from the original Co-operative whose building it now occupies.

Visitors and locals alike could be forgiven for thinking that what you see is what you get. But the ‘bear necessities of life’ are not all that is on offer here.

The staff at The Bear have a wide knowledge of nutrition and complementary medicine (we have a fully qualified herbalist on duty most days), and like nothing better than to be asked for advice and information on medication or dietary issues. And if we have not got what you need, we will gladly get it for you – quickly.

Bear Wholefoods exists in the heart of the local community and is a shop for the people of that community. We operate a policy of fair trading and continually seek to extend our range of locally grown produce by encouraging growers to sell from our shop.

Or, as Pam Warhurst (Chair of the Co-operative) puts it “What matters to us is people. We like to think we have time to talk to our customers and really help them when they are in need. Young or old, buyer or seller, we are here to help. What we don’t know, we’ll find out, or find someone who does. We are part of a community and trying to make things better for that community is what excites us”.