MOUNT RAINIER's 38-year-old Glut food co-op — the oldest co-op in Maryland and the nation — is making room for two mainstream neighbors. Just across the District line in the Brookland neighborhood, a YES! Organic Market opened last November on 12th Street NE.

And now Whole Foods has plans on opening a store in nearby Riverdale Park — a move confirmed by Whole Foods spokeswoman Sarah Kenney. So how does that make independent little-guy Glut feel? Surprisingly, not all that concerned.

"When I heard the Whole Foods was moving down the street, I didn't consider it competition," said Glutton (as staffers are endearingly called) Raquel Brown. She said the arrival of YES! almost a year ago didn't really dent business, so she's not anticipating much change from Whole Foods' arrival, either.

Customers are obsessively loyal to the niche market, which doesn't try to emulate behemoths like Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, YES! — which is a mini Whole Foods by many standards — or even the Takoma Park-Silver Spring Food Co-Op just five miles away. The two community-run organizations may seem pretty similar — both located in District-area suburbs, both promising cheap produce, both focusing on localism — but ever since TP-SS expanded, aiming for a more upscale look, it's "a little snooty," said one Brookland resident, posting on the neighborhood message board.

Brown agrees with that sentiment, swearing that "customers will pick us over TCCP any day. It's our old-fashioned family values, and prices." TP-SS shoppers pay a yearly membership fee, while Glut has a free, open-door policy. Plus, Glut doesn't carry meat products, which Brown said is a boon for its patrons. "Half our customers are vegan or vegetarian, and don't want to bother reading labels," she said. "They know they're safe here."

But is Glut safe from Whole Foods and other markets that claim the same feel-good shopping experience?

According to postings on Brookland's neighborhood message board, support from neighbors — some of whom are nervous that Glut is in financial jeopardy — is there, and has been for years. Benjamin Crandall wrote: "I couldn't maintain my food budget at current levels and eat a predominately organic diet without Glut. I feel pretty much treated like family there."

It's that personal feel that Glut tries to hammer home, a mood in keeping with the store's "still funky, still cheap" motto. Its cashiers still use old-fashioned, non-electronic registers. Folk music plays overhead, and cashiers double as DJs on playlist duty. Plus, products aren't limited to the predictable Odwalla, Amy's Organic and other all-natural brands.

In its wellness section, Glut stocks impossible-to-find-elsewhere Dr. Sebi's healing remedies, shipped all the way from a Honduras clinic in Central America. The herbal products claim to cure AIDS, asthma and cancer. "One woman spent $300 on one visit," Brown recalled.

Glut deli cases are filled with macrobiotic cuisine from Rockville vegan restaurant Vegetable Garden, along with juices and hummus made by nearby food entrepreneurs. "As long as it comes from a certified kitchen," Glutton David McDuffie explained, the store will probably sell it.

Though it all sounds laid-back and romantic — "Gluttons" are urged to do what they love while working, including creating art and music — the co-op still faces an undeniable threat from a booming natural foods industry. Like Brown, McDuffie seemed unconcerned. No matter what the competition throws at Glut, he's confident the store will hold on to its customers.

"We'll make sure our retention rate stays up," he said. One part of the strategy: They're not turning off the folk music anytime soon.

» Glut, 4005 34th St., Mt. Rainier; 301-779-1978

Written by Express contributor Erin Zimmer
File photos by James M. Thresher/The Washington Post

Posted by Express at 4:05 PM on October 8, 2007
Tagged in Eating Around , Free Ride , Maryland , News , Prince George's County , Top Stories