WASHINGTON – MOM’s Organic Market will mark its 30th anniversary next week, and the organic grocer has seen tremendous growth since its humble beginnings in a Rockville garage.
It has also been a leader among retailers in conservation and sustainability.
MOM’s founder Scott Nash, who started an organic produce delivery business with a $100 investment at age 22, hand-delivered a box of fresh produce to a customer on Evelyn Drive in Rockville on July 2, 1987 – his first official sale.
When business began to take off, Nash bought his sister’s Chevy Malibu station wagon for $1,000 to make deliveries.
Today MOM’s has 1,000 employees and operates 17 locations in the District, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
In 2005, MOM’s became the first grocery chain to ban plastic grocery bags and five years later became the first retail chain to ban the sale of plastic bottled water.
It generates enough electricity through solar panels at two stores and at its own solar farm in Kingsville, Maryland, to cover more than 25 percent of its stores’ energy needs.
MOM’s also donates more than $500,000 a year to environmental organizations.
Earlier this year, MOM’s started selling insects as an alternative protein source.
