Beans & Barley

Started in 1973 as a small neighborhood health-food store with a half-dozen crocks for bulk goods and two coolers, Beans added slowly to its list of products as customers requested. In 1979, believing that, just like everyone else, "health-food" shoppers would appreciate quick, hot food in the middle of a busy day, we started serving food. The food was good, people stopped in to shop AND eat. Early in the summer of 1993, we literally became the hottest spot on the East Side, when a spectacular blaze (fireballs and everything!) drove the lunch-hour crowd into the street and left us with just the foundation and one usable wall. Over the next year and a half, we developed our plans, secured financing and by late Fall of 1994, standing in exac