Garden of Light Natural Foods

Great locally owned health food store. Great selection of produce, shelf items, health and beauty. A hidden gem!

Long before Whole Foods hit the Hartford area, Garden of Light has been here. They’ve been in business just off of Route 44 at least since 1987 when I moved to CT.
For a long time, the owners also operated a companion store in Glastonbury in the Griswold Mall Shopping Center. When I worked in Glastonbury, I had lunch there once in a while at their really nice vegetarian hot bar.
Glastonbury closed a few years ago, but the Avon location has been hanging tough for a long time.
We visited today to get some maple extract for a French Toast recipe we like to prepare. Surprisingly, it isn’t easy to find, but we can always get it here.
You can get a lot here– they have general grocery stuff, a big gluten free section, baked goods, prepared foods in the coolers, a nice produce section, all kinds of nutritional supplements, an awesome bulk foods section, and health-​personal care stuff. There are a few markdown racks sprinkled throughout the store.
Ever hear of Kombucha? I never did — it’s a new big thing — a fermented tea with bacteria culture and yeast. You can get bottles of it here, or fill up a growler at their self serve taps.
Its a real fun place to walk around and see what you can find. Some very sweet cashiers, plus the photos of Dylan and the Stones, and Hendrix and the Beatles at the check out station will finish off your shopping experience very nicely.

I’m a vegan for the animals, and try to avoid single-​use packaging for the environment. So how does Garden of Light fit in with my personal goals?
They have a wonderful bulk food section with grains, beans, flours, cereals, nuts, and even candy. They have even put together a gluten-​free bulk section to reduce cross-​contamination for those who are very sensitive to it. I personally don’t avoid gluten, but for celiacs, this is a nice feature.
They also have fresh fruits and vegetables, which an emphasis on seasonal produce.

Yeah, I like this place a lot. Comparable prices to whole foods, Kombucha ON TAP, great selection of health foods some of which are cheaper than whole foods, fresh soup sometimes and organic vegetables all the time. Great employees. A million times better selection and prices than shitty fresh market down the street. This place rocks!

I love this place. I used to visit all the time when I lived in Avon and now I go there whenever I can, usually about once a week. The prices are good and they seem to have everything I want in a «health food store» that is about a tenth of the size as Whole Foods. What you get at this Light Natural Foods Store is knowledgeable service: people who actually know what they are talking about when in comes to, let’s say, Dr Oz’s latest suggestion on trimming your belly. LOL. The people there are personable and no question goes unanswered; if one person doesn’t know the answer they will quickly find someone else who can help you. No ego issues. Their prices are competitive and I always grind my own peanut butter while there, then rush home and place it in the refrigerator. It so much better than having to mix up all the oil when you open a store bought natural peanut butter. Ugh. They have the latest stuff and the prices are usually better or comparable to Whole Foods. We need to support small stores like this who are trying to compete with the corporate giants. The low sodium miso soup mix and the golden berries from Brazil were competitively priced with Whole Foods. Actually Garden of Light had a better price on the Golden Berries while the miso soup was about the same. Another thing I like about Garden of Light is that unlike Whole Foods they don’t have all of those open containers that people can sneeze and cough into while spreading their germs and viruses.

A dying breed of a natural store I used to go to the Garden of Light in Glastonbury until they closed their doors I only hope these guys don’t I will not support Whole Foods we must keep the little guys alive!