AN INDEPENDENT organic health food shop has opened a second branch, just 18 months after launching its first.

Business partners Matt Sage and Jessica Howie’s new outlet is in South Parade, Summertown, on the site of former furniture store Liscious.

Their first shop, in Magdalen Road, has also doubled in size to cope with demand.

Most of the products are locally produced, with both shops stocking organic food, supplements, gifts, beauty and skincare products and organic bread from Vale of White Aston’s Bakehouse,

The best-selling product is honey, including raw and organic varieties from Cowley and H to Pembrokeshire and New Zealand.

The shops and website wildhoneylove.com stock products from Sandy Lane Farm, Oxford Cheese Company, eggs from Kidlington’s Willowbrook Farm, cereals, crackers, nutgrains, supplements, pasta, chocolate, Fair Trade coffee and teas.

Another product line is honey-based, organic Therapi [ok] skincare range from Daylesford Organic head beekeeper Tania Hawkes.

Musician Mr Sage, who lives in East Oxford, is also the founder of Oxford’s Catweazle Club, while Ms Howie is a dance teacher.

Mr Sage believes Wild Honey will continue to thrive, where other independents have floundered, because of the sense of community around their outlets.

These include regular events and activities, including tasting sessions, courses, workshops and book signings on subjects as diverse as mindfulness and acoustic music

Mr Sage said: “We are both very much about community – it is at the heart of everything we do.

“We wanted to create, not just a health store but a vibrant community health hub, where you could buy just about everything for your well-being, from the finest quality vitamins and supplements to a full range of fresh, organic fruit and vegetables, while also getting free nutritional advice and meeting local growers and producers at our regular events.

“We have created a very strong brand.”

And according to figures from the Soil Association’s Organic Market Report, Wild Honey’s focus on organic could prove a winner.

Sales of organic products rose by five per cent in the UK last year and are now worth almost £2bn.

Despite austerity, the organic market has been growing for the past three years.

Independents such as Wild Honey appear to be best-placed to exploit demand, as The Soil Association’s research shows sales of organic products through supermarket have fallen from 80 per cent to 70 per cent during the past decade.

Sales of all organic products through supermarkets rose 3.2 per cent last year, compared to 7.5 per cent for independents, although to put it in perspective, the four biggest retailers of organic by a huge margin are still Ocado, Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose.

The Soil Association report describes “a huge opportunity for independent retailers now because of the changing nature of consumer’s shopping habits—people are doing less big, weekly shops”.

This potential is especially true for organic and sales figures confirm it.

There has been a nine per cent growth in organic sales outside the supermarkets, representing £608.3m, almost £1m extra per week.

And sales of organic health and beauty products jumped by almost 22 per cent last year.

Soil Association research also shows that socially conscious Millennials, those born between 1980 and the early 2000s, are most likely to shop for organic food.

Even better, the organic market is predicted to keep growing by another five per cent this year.

At an opening party for the new Wild Honey Summertown store today [September 8], customers will meet producers and have free nutritional consultations.

Suppliers dropping in include master baker Syd Aston from Aston's Bakehouse and Oxford-based organic popcorn and snack-bar firm Nom Foods.

Others include vegan cake-maker Eloise Macdonald, representatives of New Zealand-based Manuka honey and avocado skincare brand Antipodes and organic supplement makers Royal Green.

Mr Sage explained: ““I think the reason Wild Honey has been so successful, is that there was a lack of a vibrant offering in Oxford.

“The zeitgeist has moved a long way since the days of sacks of grain bags dumped on the floor in the health food shops of the 1970s.

“I have been living here for 25 years and was wondering why there wasn’t something like Wild Honey already.”

He added: “We want to create a vibrant, well-being resource for our community and to wrest food shopping away from faceless supermarkets and cynical so-called health food chains.

“Encouraging local people to invest in their local economy and a system that very quickly begins to benefit everyone.”