Midtown Global’s new vitamin/herb shop

BY DENNIS GEISINGER

“Just one thing,” said Glenn Lyons, store manager for Global Market’s newest tenant, Cultural Herbs, L.L.C., when interviewed recently by the Southside Pride, “Don’t call me doctor.”
“I just try to send people in the direction of good health,” said Lyons, a Denver native who has the look and cooled down demeanor of a Rasta priest, “I talk to them and try to discover what is at the root of their problems and then set up vectors to pinpoint their therapy.”
Lyons has a three-year degree from the Colorado School of Traditional Chinese Medicine (CSTCM) that includes instruction and certification in traditional Chinese medicine (acupuncture and related modalities, tui na (physiotherapy/therapeutic massage), internal medicine (Chinese herbal medicine), Chinese nutrition, and energetic exercise/meditation with a grounding in Western medicine, all as it is currently taught in mainland China.
CSTCM is a nationally accredited school whose mission statement says its graduates are capable of providing a high standard of healthcare from a sound theoretical and clinical understanding, are knowledgeable in Chinese medicinal diets and exercise/meditation in order to advise patients about lifestyle issues and at the same time are educated enough in basic Western medicine to make appropriate referrals when necessary.
Excuse me, but when Glenn is watching the store, the doctor is in.
Flanked by a color-scale collection of bulk-weighed herbs and organic apothecaries, Lyons will tell you how you should take care of your bad digestion.
“Bad digestion can contribute to the amount of toxins in your body,” Lyons said. “And that will contribute to all kinds of symptoms,” he said.
Only in its first month of business, Cultural Herbs, L.L.C. offers a product line of natural and organic bulk herbs and herbal products and the expertise to advise their use. And although most of their herbs are strictly Chinese or traditional Western, the shop hopes to expand their variety to include African, Middle Eastern, Native American, South American and Auurvedic (Indian) herbs. Owners also plan to include natural beauty products, children’s products, energy foods and drinks and a larger selection of teas.
Owners Lyons, Abdiaziz Jama and Karim Behi met through the Chinese Medicine school in Denver and decided that the growing internationally aware marketplace of South Minneapolis would be a good place to open a business. An African Development Center of Minnesota (ADC) grant got them started. During the last three years Minnesota ADC has helped 40 clients start their own businesses, assisted in the expansion of 8 other businesses and provided training for another 66 who sought help in starting their own business. According to data compiled by an independent auditor, ADC has invested a total of $524,292 in African businesses since April 2004.
Lyons and Jama say that their experience with Global Market has been a positive one, as well, crediting the market’s advertising and marketing efforts for the “good, getting better” reception they’ve received from new customers.
But at the heart of it all is the Taoist study of nature that has brought Glenn Lyons and his partners to Midtown to practice the art of holistic healing.
“I feel at least half ways capable of helping people,” Lyons said. “I feel like this is what I was meant to do.”
“This is my passion,” he said.