Tim Harty, The Business Times 

Making regular trips to Copeka Coffee, because it was literally right across Fifth Street from her store, Green Valley Herbal owner Patricia Nizalowski saw how busy the coffee shop was on a regular basis.

As in: It’s really busy.

“They have community there at Copeka,” Nizalowski said. “You know, people go there. I see regular people going all the time. I see mothers groups hanging out there with their kids. I mean, people doing art. … They have music at night. Last night they were setting up for something, they had all the lights on. It’s pretty cool.”

Now, Nizalowski doesn’t have to cross the street to go there. She just needs to go one door down, because she moved her business into two small units in the Menagerie Square commercial building where Copeka resides. And she opened the doors to business there on Jan. 18.

It may have been the easiest business decision Nizalowski ever had to make.

Green Valley Herbal was at 1001 N. Fifth St., where there wasn’t much foot traffic next to it. Moving across the street to 1006 N. Fifth St. puts her store in clear view of the considerable Copeka clientele.

And that’s how she noticed the space was available to lease. During a stop at Copeka, she saw a note on the door where Lifespan Psychiatry had resided.

“It was a little typed up thing that said the place was available,” Nizalowski said. “Yeah, I called immediately.”

Now, when asked how to find her store, she uses Copeka as a point of reference, because many people know where it is.

Then, they find out what’s in Green Valley Herbal, and it’s a lot of items that she makes herself, and a partial list includes: medicinal herbal teas; lotions; body wash; after-shower oil; aromatherapy mists; and essential-oil blends. She emphasizes blends when she says essential-oil blends, because she wants to avoid customer confusion.

“Some people think I sell the bottle of essential oils, and I don’t,” she said.

She also makes and sells facial serums, foot balms and massage oil.

Nizalowski knows a thing or two about massage oil, because it relates to the other half of her business.

The retail business is only half of what she does, and uses half of her store’s 600 square feet. The other half contains her office and the tools of the trade she uses as a massage therapist, which she has done for 38 years.

Nizalowski bought Green Valley Herbal six years ago, because she was extremely familiar with it after being a customer of the Cedaredge-based business since the late-1990s, and she primarily operated it online until she got the space at 1001 N. Fifth St.

Moving to 1006 N. Fifth St. left her with half as much room, but more eyes seeing her store, a tradeoff she says is worth it. Now, she’s open for massage therapy Monday-Wednesday, then opens the retail store Thursday-Saturday.

Nizalowski’s plan is to grow the retail side of the business and be open more days for it. She’s 66 years old, and she sees making and selling Green Valley Herbal’s lotions and oils and aromatherapy mists as something she can continue to do into old age.

Nizalowski also sees her store as a way to help people take better care of themselves.

“I can share these great products with people, because I know that they work with bodies, because I’ve been using them since the late ‘90s,” she said. “And I think the message is so valuable now, and it’s: Love your body. Love yourself. Take care of yourself. 

“You know, it’s just so important. People are so stressed out right now. So what I do is I offer a way for people, encourage them to take better care of themselves, and I have the means.”