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Tampa Grocer Went From Bounty To Bust

Tribune file photo by MICHAEL SPOONEYBARGER (2007)

David Taylor filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2007 and subsequently sold his Nature's Harvest Market.

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By MICHAEL SASSO | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 28, 2008

Name: David Taylor

Business: Nature's Harvest Market, 1021 N. MacDill Ave., Tampa

Filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 2007; sold business in bankruptcy court in August

David Taylor's story shows that recent economic forces can drive out even the most conscientious, sophisticated and successful local retailers.

His natural and organic food store, Nature's Harvest Market, was an institution in Tampa, first on Dale Mabry Highway and for the past 18 years on MacDill Avenue. Taylor is such an authority on the industry that he served as president of a nationwide trade group, the Natural Products Association.

So when he heard Wild Oats, now Whole Foods, was opening the Bay area's first natural foods superstore just a mile away from his store, he got to work. He expanded his store to 18,000 square feet from 13,000 square feet to better compete, he began carrying a larger selection of organic wine, and he started marketing more heavily.

But a decline in the economy, soaring interest payments on his business loan and the onslaught of chain competition caught up with him.

Taylor filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 2007 and sold his business this summer while under court protection. The buyer was a small natural foods chain called Rollin' Oats.

A lifelong Tampa resident, Taylor and his wife are relocating to St. Augustine, where he has taken a job directing the beer and wine operations of Tree of Life, a large organic and natural foods company.

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