Inside Johnson City store's last day: Follow along with Health Beat's final hours

To the melody of the door's chime and a jingle of a bell hanging from the door handle, one of Health Beat Natural Foods' last customers walks into the Johnson City store.

She bends down to grab the handles of a small green basket and begins to walk down the aisles, carefully surveying what little is left on the tan metal shelves.

Lilac colored paper signs reading "Health Beat's LAST WEEK!" are taped next to each bundle of remaining products, small orange sale stickers have been placed on every item and a retirement balloon on its last legs floats above the front counter, all stark reminders of the store's dwindling hours.

After she fills her basket with cod liver and omega D3 supplements, the customer places it on the front counter and asks owner Michele Moelder which supplement would suit her better, inquires about the half-off drinks in the cooler behind her and wonders how she can get the chocolate-covered nuts Moelder used to carry in the store.

As Moelder places each item into a small brown paper bag, the certified nutritionist recommends checking out Down to Earth Whole Foods in Endicott and slips in three copies of a health magazine, which she instructs to share with friends, and a white sheet of paper informing customers how to get their supplements once they run out.

She repeats this process with every customer as they make their final purchases, ensuring everyone can still get what they need.

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Moelder announced on April 5 she would close the store after 40 years to start the next chapter of her life in retirement, outlining plans to close when the shelves were bare.

On this almost 90 degree May afternoon as cars and school buses pass by the tall front windows, customers filing in and out, Moelder and two remaining employees reminisce about the people they have met and recall many memories made throughout her 40 years in business.

Bursts of laughter and lighthearted tunes occasionally ring out. One customer stops in just to say hi, while another calls out to Moelder from one of the aisles in search of suggestions about what type of vitamins would be best for her to take.

One of Moelder's tenants walks in from the upstairs studio apartment to pay his rent before the first of the month and shortly after, another customer stops at the counter with products stacked in his arms.

In two hours, all of this will change. Customers will be texting, calling or emailing Moelder for recommendations instead, she will be running into people next door at her daughter's restaurant, the Grapevine Cafe, and she will have to figure out a new way to collect rent.

She'll have the scrapbook, the one lying open on the back counter. It's filled with the memories she'll carry with her — her first dollar, pages of yellowed newspaper clippings and a collection of photos.

But for now, Moelder offers up hugs, poses for pictures and shares final conversations inside the four walls she's built and served a community within for four decades, the same space she sat in six weeks ago, sharing her hope she had helped people, that they take what she's taught them and live healthy lives.

Now, she looks forward to a new chapter.

"For 40 years, I had to be serious," Moelder said. "It's time to have a cocktail."

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