Maggie’s serves mind, body & spirit

Maggie’s Organic Grocer is located at 7670 Martinsburg Pike, between the Dollar General Store and Subway.
Locals know that Maggie’s Organic Grocer in Shepherdstown is the place to go if they want to eat right and use natural remedies for common ailments.
Maggie’s offers a caring atmosphere and years of experience working with natural remedies for healing. The store, located at 7670 Martinsburg Pike (at the W.Va. 45 bypass), carries most reputable brands of herbs, supplements and personal care. If customers cannot find what they’re looking for on the shelves or on the Maggie’s Web site “http://www.maggiesbodymindandspirit.com/”>www.maggiesbodymindandspirit.com/ the items can often be ordered
“Our first priority is healing, from the inside out! We are always available for consultations on your healthcare needs,” says owner Debra Titpton.
Tipton’s earliest association with the establishment was through her spiritual healing practice. Now, more than five years later, her healing abilities are helping to keep the struggling store open as her sales of organic groceries have fallen off during the Recession, Tipton says.
“I started my Reiki practice before I became an owner of the store, and it was through the healing that a dear friend supported me with the down payment to get Maggie’s,” Tipton says. “She wanted people to be able to find meafter her Reiki session was so successful. Her generosity was simply a miracle! To this very day I owe her everything.”

Debra Tipton
Reiki is a spiritual practice developed in 1922 by Japanese Buddhist Mikao Usui. The practice uses palm healing as a form of complementary and alternative medicine and is sometimes classified as oriental medicine. Through the use of this technique, practitioners believe that they are transferring healing energy through the palms.
“This store is filled withan energy that so many have commented on the minute they walk in,” Tipton says. “I always hear how good it smells which makes me smile and tell the customers it is the incense we sell. This storewas created with love for our environment offering healthy organic foods.”
Maggie’s supports four local farms for beef, chicken, eggs and honey.
“Supporting local farms and businesses is so important for our economy as well asthe freshness and nutrient content of our food,” Tipton says. She receives producedelivered during the season from Jubilee Organic Farm off Whiting’s Neck Road in Berkeley County. And the beef Maggie’s stocks is from Roxley Farms in Kearneysville.
“Dedicated families with love for the earth and our health contribute to these wonderful foods by the hard work that goes into their farms,” Tipton says. “I feel Blessed to be a part of it.”
The eggs come from Legacy Manor in Boonsboro, Md., and Berkeley County’s Back Creek Bend farm.
Rising gasoline prices and the Recession have proved extremely challenging for retailers across the country, as Americans search for the best buys closest to home.
Ironically, the growing interest in organic foods is partially responsible for the lag in sales at Maggie’s. Chain grocery stores, such as Martin’s and Food Lion, have begun to stock the items in large quantities and often have lower prices, Tipton says. She cannot compete with their prices because she orders her food in smaller quantities.
“If anyone looked at my profit and loss they would think it’s impossible for me to still be open,” Tipton says.”I am open because of the love of my friends and customers.”
What Tipton can offer customers, she says, is one-stop shopping for mind, body and spirit care and healing. Her Reiki practice has remained strong as other facets of the business have become more of a strain.
“Reiki is a spiritual practice not a religious one,” Tipton says. “It does not matter what your particularpath might be. When people find me or I find them, they are usually at their wits’ end with trying every medication and treatment in our modern world and nothing has worked or they have become worse because of certain drugs side effects.”
Through her business, Tipton has often helped people who have fallen on hard times. One example she remembers well happened when a young woman came into the store with tears streaming down her face, bruises all over her body and her teeth chipped. She was looking for Arnica, which helps with bruising.
“She was crying as she dropped the tiny bit of change coming out of her pockets and kept saying ‘I don’t have enough…I don’t have enough,'” Tipton recalls.
Tipton told the girl she did not want the money. She gave her the product and a free healing session on the condition that the girl would get out of the abusive relationship she was in. It was her boyfriend who had hurt her and pushed out of a moving vehicle.
“I offered her the session at no cost except that she would truly take part in her own emotional healing,” Tipton says. “This is what Maggie’s has to offer our community. Healthy food for your body, a soft shoulder and caring heart for yourmind and healing for your Spirit. … There are many stories like this one in the five years I have owned this store. I call this my ‘temple/sanctuary’ I truly hope my store will be supported long enough to help all those that need me.”
Two young women Tipton says have been very helpful in keeping the door at Maggie’s open are Hasmig and Gabby. “They volunteer their time to work with no pay because they believe in what Maggie’s has to offer the community,” Tipton says.
- Debra Tipton