TIM MEKEEL | Staff WriterAs a college student in Charlottesville, Virginia, Nathan Copson was a devoted customer of the Whole Foods supermarket there.
“It was always such a great atmosphere to shop,” he remembered.
So when Copson got a chance to work there part-time, stocking shelves and assisting customers, he “jumped at it.”
Soon he discovered that he had the same passion for being an employee of Whole Foods as he had for being its customer.
Copson, a student at Piedmont Virginia Community College at the time, quickly adjusted his future plans accordingly.
Whole Foods Market store manager Nathan Copson shows the bulk food area in the company's new store in the Shoppes at Belmont.
“I was going to transfer to (University of Virginia, also in Charlottesville). But when I got a job at Whole Foods, I was like, I love this so much, I just want to do this.
“You could see that you could make a career out of it. So I figured I’d do that for as long as it was enjoyable and fulfilling, and 16 years later, I’m still doing it,” said Copson.
He no longer stocks shelves part time, though.
After graduating from Piedmont with an associate degree in music, he became a full-time employee (what Whole Foods calls a team member), steadily taking on added responsibility.
Now Copson is store team leader (store manager) of the new Whole Foods at the Shoppes at Belmont on Fruitville Pike. The store opens Wednesday at 9 a.m.
It’s the first time he’s been in charge of a store.
What impressed him about Whole Foods as an employer way back in 2002?
“It was really the work environment and the way the team members and store leadership treated one another,” he said. “When I imagined all the other jobs I could have, I couldn’t imagine working with better people.”
Copson, age 39, was raised with an appreciation for fresh, natural foods, a perspective that makes him a perfect match for Whole Foods — the world’s leading natural and organic foods retailer.
“My parents grew up eating natural, healthy and organic foods. But when I was little, the only option for us was ordering through a co-op or little tiny health-food stores.
“But they’d be the size of a small room, so you couldn’t really do a full shop there,” he said.
That changed when Copson was about 15 years old and his family moved to Charlottesville. The city had a Fresh Fields store, part of chain that would be acquired by Whole Foods a couple years later, in 1996.
His visits were mind-boggling.
Interior of the new Whole Foods Market at the Shoppes at Belmont.
“When I started shopping there, it was revolutionary. We could just go and do our weekly shopping. It was the most amazing experience ever,” said Copson.
“We didn’t have to read labels and check for anything. We could trust in the quality standards of the items we were buying.”
That Fresh Fields store became the Whole Foods store which years later hired Copson, starting his career with the company.
He began in the whole body department, which sells supplements, hair and skin products, makeup and the like.
“I started at the bottom,” he said, then rose to assistant team leader in that department, then switched to food departments because he saw a better chance of advancement.
Copson was team leader for the specialty department (cheese, coffee and more) at the Richmond, Virginia, store when it opened in 2008, then assistant store team leader at the Virginia Beach, Virginia, store when it opened in 2012.
Copson is aiming to put down roots in Lancaster. He’s buying a house and soon will be joined by his wife Amy, their two daughters and their son, who live in Williamsburg, Virginia.
“We’re really looking forward to being in the community and getting to know the area. It seems like there’s so much this area can offer my family. We just really want to settle in here for a little bit,” he said.
Whole Foods says its Shoppes at Belmont location will open June 27.
Befitting someone who works at Whole Foods, Copson will continue to do some of the cooking for his family.
“I love to cook,” he said. “My mom taught me and my siblings when we were growing up. I started cooking when I was about 10.”
When in the kitchen, Copson is inclined to improvise with what’s on hand.
“My favorite way to cook is to look in the fridge and pantry, and then create a meal from the ingredients I already have,” he said.
Copson is one of 135 employees at the 40,000-square-foot store. Some 125 are from the Lancaster area, he said.
The Manheim Township store has all the employees it needs, said Copson, although more applicants are welcome.
“If somebody comes in and they’re the perfect match for what we’re looking for, we’re going to try to get them in the building,” he said.
Despite the Lancaster County unemployment rate being one of the lowest in Pennsylvania, and hovering near an 11-year low, Whole Foods had no problem attracting enough strong candidates, said Copson.
Reusable bags and water bottles at the Whole Foods Market at the Shoppes at Belmont.
“We didn’t have any problems finding people or getting staffed up. A lot of people ... were really excited by the opportunity to work for us,” he said.
Although the Whole Foods at Belmont will be among over 470 stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, it will have some unique and some rare features.
“We always try to do something a little different, a little innovative with each new store,” he said.
The Belmont store will be one of the few to have a self-service coffee and juice bar that includes draft cold-pressed juice, build-your-own acai bowls and a seating area.
It will be the only Whole Foods location to have paleo-rub meats. It also will have an easier time providing a strong selection of local produce, thanks in large part to its proximity to a key supplier, Lancaster Farm Fresh Cooperative.
The co-op is just five miles away on Running Pump Road in East Hempfield Township. That also will make it easier for the Belmont store to have some of its fresh produce on its shelves within 24 hours of being picked in the field, a popular Whole Foods program.
