Photo and story by Jake Dowling, Icon intern
High school life was over; it was time to be an adult. In the early 1990s that was the reality faced by Alisa Armbrecht, today owner of Health Chek, a store that sells health foods and health and beauty supplies at 117 S. Main Street in Ada.
“I was a waitress, I worked in a factory, then I worked at the Lima News,” she said. “I was just trying to find my way in life early on.”
Armbrecht worked at the Lima News for a few years working in its production department, but decided she wanted to go in a different direction.
Quickly however, she had a life decision to make. In 2007, Armbrecht applied at Perry Corp, Lima, after leaving the Lima News, while also talking to Deb Krummery, then-current owner at Health Chek.
“When I was talking to her, they told me at Perry that I got the job,” she said. “But since I was about to go through major surgery and I was really interested in this store, I made my choice.”
That choice was Health Chek.
“I have always been interested in health foods,” she said. “And one day I was walking down Main to go to the post office and I saw a ‘for sale’ sign in the window and I wanted to buy it.”
The previous owners were Rick and Deb Krummery. They first opened the store in 1998 and nine years later, Armbrecht bought it from them after they put the shop up for sale.
“After I left the Lima News, I tried to reflect on what in the world I’m going to do now,” Armbrecht said. “As I walked down the street and saw her put out a sign that said ‘business for sale’, I popped in here, started chatting with her and started working on it.”
“My mom wasn’t surprised,” Armbrecht said. “She always knew I would own a place like this with health food and health supplies, and she was also very supportive.”
Her first year was a feel-out kind of year. Get to know the locals and do not make any drastic changes that might put off customers.
“Then after the first year, I changed some things,” Armbrecht said. Most of it was cosmetic changes, for instance, ripping out the carpeting and exposing the hard wood floors, as well as a fresh new coat of paint on the walls. Other changes consist of increasing inventory.
However, the greatest challenge was getting herself noticed. She then started taking on the Ada farmers’ market where she is now the manager.
“The farmers’ market is very important to me,” Armbrecht said. “I wanted people to get to know me, meet people and get my name out there. I think that helped a lot.”
She believes taking that role was a blessing in disguise that ended up paying off greatly.
“I think getting involved in the farmers’ market was the best thing because it did get me out there and show people that I was interested in the whole line of thinking with food, she said.
“Being the manager has been a good thing.”
Armbrecht also holds other positions, such as one in the Ada Area Chamber of Commerce. There, she hopes for big ways to improve downtown Ada.
“I would love to see some of the downtown buildings get fixed up and I would love to see businesses at every store front,” she said. “I think having a viable downtown basically makes the community stronger.”
When she is not running the store, or managing the farmers’ market on Thursdays, or throwing out her ideas for the chamber, Armbrecht enjoys taking walks, gardening and reading, especially reading.
“I read everything,” she said. “My mom taught me how to read even before I went to kindergarten.”
Somewhere though, there is a wife and mother of two that, at the end of the day, always puts her family first.
“Family comes first, bottom line,” Armbrecht said. “That’s just the way it is. I try to fit everything else in around the family.”
Her schedule at home, which has all sorts of marks on it she says, always resolves around her family. That is how she stays organized.
“Family comes first and then other stuff gets fit in and around it,” she said. “That’s something you have to do, or you will just drive yourself crazy.”
In the meantime, the store is her pride and joy.
“I want to run this business until I can’t do it anymore,” she said. “This is probably the first job that I love coming to work every day to.”
She says that though she gets steady business once ONU starts classes back up in the fall. The winter is always the busiest time of the year.
“The winter season is the busiest time for the year because that is when people tend to get sick the most often,” Armbrecht said. “So they come in here and buy products that try to make them feel better.”
Busy or not, family first or being the farmers’ market manager on Thursdays, in the end, and looking back, this job is what Armbrecht has always wanted. A job that she can be happy working at, but getting there was not quick or easy; it required resilience and a little bit of faith.
“This job was definitely a big leap of faith,” she said. “And I’m glad I took it.”
