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Local herbalist caters to community’s health needs

Laura Onyeneho
Local herbalist caters to community’s health needs
Essential Body Herbs has locations in Dudley Square, Dorchester and Mattapan. (Photo: Laura Onyeneho photo)

Wayne Atkinson’s office headquarters for Essential Body Herbs, an herbal store with locations in Dorchester, Mattapan and Dudley Square, is fitting for a business that provides the latest in alternative medicines and products ranging from herbal teas to skincare. It contains neatly organized stocks of black seed soap, herbal shampoos and lavender incense — all products that have helped grow the business from a home-based effort to a three-store retail success.

As co-owner of Essential Body Herbs, Atkinson remembered all too well when the idea to launch the store began.

“My father had gotten sick with Myeloma, cancer of the bone, and my family wanted to seek out alternative care for him,” he said.

Diagnosed in 1989, doctors gave Llewelyn Atkinson a year to live — this led his family to gravitate towards alternative medicine.

At the time, Wayne’s mother, Erdiemay Atkinson, then an insurance broker, was running an Herbal Life side-business from her Blue Hill Avenue home. Wayne credits the herbs provided through Herbal Life with helping his father beat cancer and prolong his life. He lived 11 years longer than the doctors gave him after his cancer diagnoses and died of a heart attack in 2001 at the age of 54.

The experience also gave Wayne and his mother the idea to launch Essential Body Herbs.

“I was always business-minded, enjoyed the vitamins and herbs, loved what it did for my dad, and wanted to branch out and provide our own herbal products,” Atkinson says. “That was how the birth of our Mattapan location began.”

The success of the business, he says, wouldn’t have been possible without the research, savings, night job, and the people of the community.

“There is a lot happening in the industry right now, and you have to make sure that you provide quality products. If you’re in it just to stock a store, you’re going to make mistakes,” said Atkinson.

As owners, Atkinson’s mother creates herbal packages suitable for specific ailments and gives consultations, while Atkinson handles the finances and operations.

DixieAnn Beckford, a 10-year herbal sales representative at Essential Body Herbs, says as a vegetarian she implements the stores’ herbs in her diet, and has had positive results. “I also use antioxidants to detoxify the liver. Cleansing and eating right has improved my health,” she said.

Beckford also says providing customer support is an important part of educating people about health and wellness. “The process of detoxification is tough, so I extend my hand to them in case they need to call me during the process.”

With a daily average of 40 customers spread out to all three branch locations, products are properly stocked based on the staff’s knowledge of the items and needs of its customers. Essential Body Herbs has a team of six staff members. Vendor partners provide staff members with formal Internet training courses for new products.

“We try to be well-versed on different topics, because the more you know, the more the customers trust in you,” Atkinson said.

To keep up-to-date with the latest in herbal medicine, Atkinson takes a refresher course at the Commonwealth Center for Herbal Medicine.

Essential Body Herbs is popular among people in the Caribbean and Latino communities, but serves to anyone who “wants an alternative way of taking care of themselves.” Atkinson says the companies he partners with import natural products from places like Ghana, Jamaica, India and the Dominican Republic.

Health issues have been a concern to many people in the communities Essential Body Herbs serve, and is a key for the popularity of the store’s top-selling products. “Diabetes, cancer, and high blood pressure plagues our community. Our top-sellers are colon cleaners and body products,” said Atkinson. These products are used as preventatives, and are said to provide what the body needs to “restore itself to its natural order.”

Atkinson’s dream of running an herbal store has become a reality, and he envisions more for the business in the future. Atkinson hopes to see the younger generation take the business to another level. In its quest to promote health and wellness, Essential Body Herbs plans on adding a juice bar at its Dudley location.

Atkinson said he has learned from his father’s life and hopes others can use products from Essential Body Herbs to prolong theirs.

“My dad lived a long life, and I want others to live the same,” he said.