ARLINGTON, Texas—Grocery shopping can be overwhelming, but Arlington resident Corey Houston, 38, works to make it easier for customers to find healthy, inexpensive and sustainable products as part of his job as managing partner of Ann’s Natural Grocery & Nutrition.
Ann’s Natural Grocery & Nutrition is located at 101 E Abram St., Suite 140 in downtown Arlington. It has three other locations with two in South Oak Cliff and one in Waxahachie.
Houston has been a managing partner at the Arlington store since it opened in April 2022. Houston said that one of Ann’s Natural Grocery’s goals is to address the lack of access to food.
“This area was considered a food desert before we came, meaning there’s no access to groceries and food other than something like that convenience store within a mile to mile radius of this area,” Houston said.
Houston said that he is driven by a desire to advocate for living a healthy lifestyle. He said that the business is not just a business but a lifestyle choice for him and his family.
“Both my parents died at a younger age, and they died at the things that they probably could have been preventable,” Houston said.
Houston said he wants to help those in need who want to live a healthy lifestyle but don’t have access to groceries. He said that he wants to make groceries accessible for those with dietary restrictions.
“Somebody with celiac disease that’s looking for more foods available that don’t have gluten, someone [has] a lactose intolerant diet restriction, so looking for alternatives to your normal dairy milks,” Houston said.
Houston not only advocates for a healthy lifestyle when it comes to food, but also advocates for reducing plastic waste, offering reusable containers for cleaning supplies, laundry detergent and body care products.
Houston has 20 years of experience in the health and food industry. His skills help customers avoid unnecessary additives. He emphasized the personalized service offered at their smaller stores for better customer relationships.
“Just think about a bigger grocery store where it’s 100,000 square feet, its choices are hard,” he said.
Houston said he believes it’s important to build a relationship with customers and provide a sense of community that larger stores cannot offer.
“We want you to come in and want you to ask questions,” he said. “It allows us to really be able to figure out, what are you looking for, what’s going on with you and be able to serve you much better.”
Houston said Ann’s partner with organizations like Mission Arlington, The Taste Project Community Kitchen and Safe Haven Green Oak School to provide food, monetary donations and volunteer work.
“At the end of the day, we want to serve others,” Houston said. “That’s one of our goals, and that’s the reason why we work with those different organizations to help spread their mission.”
Houston said he’s noticed an increase in customers over the past two and a half years and encouraged new customers to visit and ask questions.
“More people find out about us, new customers that are gonna say, ‘Hey, I didn’t realize y’all were in [Arlington],’” Houston said. “So that’s what I would really recommend, folks, is just come check us out.”
