Along the Huntington Hills Green in Shelton—close to Exit 11 off of Route 8—is where you will find the Common Bond Market, a natural food and grocery store, deli and supplement center. The nearly two-year-old market offers a broad selection of organic and natural prepared foods, “green” household products, and a growing supplement department offering naturopathic and homeopathic medicine. It is here where Elise Panza, ND, Alison Bushnell and Terry Hernon, EDT, can be found assisting people with their health and beauty care questions and product selections.

“In many ways, walking into the supplement aisle is like walking into a pharmacy and trying to choose the right drug without really knowing,” says Panza, a naturopath doctor specializing in both naturopathy and homeopathic medicine and director of the supplement department. “You may have some info from the internet, or someone who recommended something to you. What we do is plug you into our own personal knowledge and product lines that we know. I think this is the only place that we sometimes dissuade people from buying things. We say, ‘I don’t think you need this’ or, ‘I think you would be better off with this product that is a little bit different and lower priced’.”

The team here is discerning about what goes on the shelf in the supplement department. “We don’t sell anything that we don’t believe works. We make sure there’s no artificial food coloring, we test the products ourselves,” Panza explains. “We will take products off the shelf if we have any concerns about an ingredient.”

Bushnell, who manages day-to-day operations in the supplement department, has a background in natural sciences including biology, zoology and physics. Often Bushnell can be found researching the efficacy and ingredients in products to ensure that the ingredients are up to par and what each individual customer needs.

Hernon, certified in Emotional Freedom Technique—known as tapping—and the newest member of the team, echoes the sentiments of her teammates; “Everyone in the department genuinely cares about the customer,” she says. “Alison will never sell a customer anything she knows will not be the right thing—she’d rather send them home empty-handed. Elise is amazing. She takes the time to get to root. She’s changed people.”

For more information, visit Facebook.com/TheCommonBondMarket or TheCommonBondMarket.com, or call 203-513-8200. Hours: Open Monday through Saturday 7:30am to 8pm, and Sundays 10am to 6pm. Location: 40 Huntington St, Shelton. See ad, page 56.

Robert Grady is district manager for Natural Awakenings Fairfield County and a Shelton resident. To connect with him, call 203-500-2860 or email [email protected].