John Wood and Aly Marks-Wood have lived in Portsmouth for over six years. Proud parents to two beatiful boys, Caleb who is thirteen and Aden who is eight. Both Aly & John are passionate about community, natural and organic foods, and family.
John started out learning about the natural and organic lifestyle from his wife. After serving in the US Army for four years and having a tour of duty in Desert Storm in 1991, John found himself suffering some symptoms of what came to be known as Gulf War Syndrome. A doctor at the Northampton VA suggested to John that GWS was actually a form of "environmental illness", meaning that as we all have an immune system to bacteria and viruses so we have one to chemicals and environmental toxins. In our modern world our bodies tend to be epxosed to these things at higher levels and our "immune system" cannot handle the loads. So we exhibit illnesses associated with these overloads of toxins. This doctor suggested eliminating as many of the environmental toxins from John's every day life and introducing a regimen of vitamins and minerals to supplement the bodies deficiencies. Aly, already leading a simpler lifestyle, was such a blessing in putting John on the right path. It would take years to convince John that the steps to prime health required him to change his clothing choices, his cleaning products, his food choices and how he took care of himself. Now you would be hard pressed to convince him otherwise, he swears by a natural lifestyle to not feeling fatigued all of the time, clear minded, happy and healthy. Now if he could just get regular excersise into his routine... 
Aly is most passionate about children, seniors and animals. She is gifted in understanding so much in the care and well being of these three groups having worked closely with each of them at different points in her job history. Her uncompormising standards for quality products and excellence in customer service have earned her a great reputation with the community as some one who is easy to talk to.
Alisha Keel was a graduate student at Salve Regina University and had been a member of our team previously in our work in the natural foods industry. We were excited to have Alisha working for us once again. Alisha has moved on to the Green Mountain State, Vermont. No doubt she will find her niche and settle in nicely in the rural settings, we will miss her here.
Hap Morgan is well known locally, having been born and raised in Newport and lived most of his life on Aquidneck Island. A local herbalist with much knowledge and a natural gift for teaching.
Michael Cellemme one of our founding team members has achieved one of his ambitions and taken a full time teaching position. We wish Michael much luck and happiness and miss his smiling face here at the store.
Meet the Team
Michael Tetrault was 
looking to put his energy into a business that takes into consideration the overall health and well being of people and planet. Michael is excited to have found that in us and to be a part of the team. He looks forward to contributing whatever is needed to make the customer happy.
Nathaniel Han can say that his first job was with The Green Grocer. Nathaniel is a student in the Portsmouth Middle School preparing to enter into the High School in Fall 2009. He is a bright young man and eager to learn all about the natural foods industry.
Sophie Reynolds is a nursing student attending CCRI and joined us in January of 2009. Her previous experience with customer service makes her a great addition to our team.
Greg Ferreira is passionate about music, most especially the ukulele. Good food is a second passion and working at The Green Grocer has been a fulfillment toward that.
Emily Scott has returned to us after a year of being away, we are delighted to have her back on the team!
Cameron McDonald is a fervent vegetarian who has been learning all about the benefits of eating natural and organic foods.
The Green Grocer, how we got our name?
What's in a name? In a business sense everything. Those of you who have children can relate to trying to choose a name. You get out the books and start making lists, you consult family and friends. Some of us don't want family names, some of us do, some of us want something unique, some want more traditional. We did very much the same thing when we started this adventure. We made the lists and did the traditional names, using words like natural and food/s in a million different ways. It was important that the customer could tell what it is we are doing here, what set us apart from just another food store, and of course still signal the organic enthusiast to come this way. At one point we even contemplated an organic foods café in Newport, something we still talk about doing, maybe, someday.
It wouldn't be until I turned my attention to the logo. The logo would also go through several incarnations. I thought of a globe, a cluster of fruits and vegetables, a door, and a tree. (I think there may even have been a rabbit at some point.) It was the tree and the door that it came down to, and the word green, which helped determine that the door wasn't the best choice. The tree is commonly used in this industry, it has some strong ties to nature obviously as well as the symbolic "tree of life" which bears a multitude of religious and secular meanings. This tree however had to be different, it couldn't just be a "tree" it had to symbolize who we are, what we want to do and it had to be recognizable and memorable.
It took me two weeks of drawing and re-working to get it together, and it still needed to be cleaned up and made professional for the purpose of print and display. In it you can see so many different things, hearts in the branches, arms of the trees wrapping around each other, circles representing the cycles of our lives and the world we live in.
Once we had the tree the name seemed to fall into place for us. The Green Grocer goes well with the tree. By definition the term is originally a British word meaning a purveyor of fresh fruits and vegetables. Today however being green means so much more. Green is a color that can mean new growth in spring, shady spots in summer heat, or festive winter days. It's a word that can mean brand new, or natural, it can mean sustainable and even be interpreted as better for you and for the earth. To us green means learning about better ways to care for ourselves and the planet, to leave a better legacy behind for our children, grandchildren and generations to come. We are here to help our customers learn, and we are here to learn from them. To us being a grocer means more than selling you something, it means providing a service to you, it means being given the privilege to delight you every time you shop. Grocer means being a part of the community we are in and sharing one of the most basic foundations of community, food, good food. So there you have it, The Green Grocer, our dream becoming a reality. What do you think of the name? The logo? What do you think of when you hear the name "The Green Grocer"? What are you expecting to see when you walk through the front doors? We can't wait to hear from you.