Craig Kipnes, left, and Herm Oglesby, right, founded OK Natural Food Store in Baltimore’s Mount Vernon in 1978. The store is still going strong, thanks to its longtime employees and customers. Photo by Ken Quam

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John Waters films feature some of Baltimore’s famous landmarks, like the Charles and Senator theaters, Bengies Drive-In Theatre and The Avenue in Hampden.

Only slightly less famous, a brick rowhouse on Preston Street in Mount Vernon appeared in Waters’ 1972 film Pink Flamingos as the retail establishment of the infamous egg lady, played by Edith Massey.

A few years later, OK Natural Food Store moved into that building. Launched in 1978 in a rinky-dink basement at 7 W. Preston Street, the health-food store is the city’s oldest natural grocery.

In the mid-70s, owner Craig Kipnes was attending University of Maryland and playing basketball, which he associated with a healthy lifestyle. Yet he struggled with headaches and digestive issues.

At the time, Kipnes was living on a diet of soda, white bread and burgers.

“I lived on junk, which, back then, everyone did,” Kipnes said. “Natural food was more of a hidden thing, a subculture.”

Through a friend, he met Hermadula Oglesby, who suggested a macrobiotic lifestyle, which involved eating whole grains and fresh vegetables and avoiding meat and dairy products.

Kipnes ignored him; Oglesby’s advice just seemed too bizarre. After all, everyone Kipnes knew ate meat. There was no such thing as whole wheat bread in mainstream grocery stores.

Then, while vacationing in the Florida Keys, Kipnes ate some tainted meat and got food poisoning. When he came back, he began taking Oglesby’s advice more seriously.

After he started eating healthier foods, his headaches went away, and his digestion improved. Even his complexion cleared up.

“It was a huge awakening to what a healthy diet could do, and I wanted to share this knowledge with as many people as I could,” Kipnes said.

After college, Kipnes didn’t want to work a traditional job. When Oglesby suggested opening a natural food store, Kipnes thought it was a great idea.

First, though, he took a road trip to do some market research. He and a friend traveled across the country for four months.

“We stopped at many natural food stores along the way — mostly out west, as that [healthy food movement] was happening there. When I got home, Herm [Oglesby] had found a place to rent at 7 West Preston,” Kipnes said.

They built some shelves and a counter, bought a cash register and scale, and named their store OK Natural Foods for the initials of their two last names.

“We bought a bunch of inventory, and a friend of Herm’s made an OK sign, and there we were,” Kipnes remembered.

A year after opening, a bank bought the building and ended their lease. Fortunately, Kipnes and Oglesby were able to move into the building just down the street at 11 W. Preston.

“We did it in one day. We just carried everything from 7 to 11,” Kipnes said.

First years of real food

At the current location, they built a kitchen and opened the OK Café on the first floor. The shop proved to be quite popular.

“We had things like our homemade sourdough rice bread and buckwheat pancakes where we ground the buckwheat, fresh, ourselves, by hand, with a stone grinder,” Kipnes said. Oglesby made millet balls. “People loved them.”

Despite its popularity, in OK Natural’s first four years, neither the café nor the store made a profit. Oglesby had a wife and children to support, so Kipnes, who was single and living above the store, bought Oglesby’s half of the business from him.

After Oglesby moved on, Kipnes invested in renovating the store, paying a skilled contractor to build a French door and a big wood-framed glass window, both of which are still there today. The contractor also installed new hardwood floors, among other design improvements.

Within two years, the store was making a profit and is still going strong today.

Loyal customers

Longtime customers say they prefer down-to-earth stores like OK Natural. In fact, they seek out the 800-square-foot store for its size and scale.

store for its size and scale. “I shop there because they are a small business,” said Don Clark, a graphic designer who lives in Hampden. He frequently stopped in when he attended the University of Baltimore and still shops there, more than 10 years after graduation.

Clark knows several of its employees from local shows and events and chats with them at the counter.

A local artist in her 60s (name withheld by request) also goes out of her way to shop at OK Natural because she prefers local businesses.

“I don’t want to give my money to big corporations,” she said. At family-owned businesses, she said, “I remember the people. You get better service. You get better quality stuff.”

Baltimore is full of small shops, from hardware stores to bakeries.

“It’s the reason I live in the city — you have small independent stores. You can walk to them. Everyone ends up talking to one another.”

Longtime employees

Kipnes attributes his store’s longevity and friendly feel to his employees. His friends Peter Barry and Chris Taylor worked there for 28 years and 30 years, respectively.

“So many people contributed” to the store over the years, Kipnes said.

Kipnes’ son, Sam, has been working there for the past 15 years. An employee named Doug McConnell has been there just as long, and McConnell’s wife, Kerith, also helps out. The store also hires MICA students.

Kipnes added that he couldn’t have done it without his wife, Noelle, who he met at a party in the building.

“Having her beside me has been a big part of the success of OK,” he said.

During their first conversation, Noelle mentioned that she needed some groceries.

“We were closed, but we went down the steps so she could get a few things,” Kipnes said. “That’s when I asked her out. Our first date was a natural-foods trade show at the Convention Center. I was in love with her that first day and still am.”

After 48 years, Baltimore remains in love with OK Natural. One frequent customer, Juma (last name withheld by request), a local visual artist, seasoned bicycle mechanic and frequent customer of the store, makes a point to shop at OK Natural.

“Supporting small businesses is still one of the best ways to make America great again,” he said.