Bumpy’s Natural and Organic Foods brings affordable products to Agawam

Aug. 16, 2018 | Jordan Houston
jordan@thereminder.com

Bumpy’s opened in January of this year, and seeks to offer community members “healthy food” at affordable prices. Storeowner Derryl “Bumpy” Gibbs, middle, poses with employees Jihan Stone, left, and Isabella Russo, right.
Reminders Publishing photo by Jordan Houston.

AGAWAM – After years of battling severe food allergies while playing semi-professional football in the Northeast, Derryl “Bumpy” Gibbs decided to open up his own grocery store – now known as Bumpy’s Natural and Organic Foods in Agawam. Although the store didn’t come to fruition until 14 years after he retired from football, its concept had been years in the making.

Gibbs, a Springfield resident, played as a tight end for a variety of semi-professional teams in the region – and picked up the nickname, “Bumpy,” along the way. His teammates used to tease him about his food allergies and strict diet, he said.

“I’ve had a number of tests done and the doctor said, ‘you don’t know what you can’t eat until you eat it.’ I couldn’t eat any desserts – no cheesecake and no Ricotta cheese,” he told Reminder Publishing. “My teammates would laugh at me and say, ‘oh, Bumpy’s tummy hurts because he can’t eat that.’”

He joked that the only way to keep up with his required protein intake was to “live off of” peanut butter.

Gibbs retired from football in 2001 to pursue other career options in the area.  With no nearby resources for foods low in sugar and saturated fats, he found himself traveling outside of the city to find stores that met his needs – until he stumbled upon the popular Deals & Steals Natural Foods in Northampton.

“One day, I ended up heading to a place in Northampton called, Deals & Steals. I said, ‘this place is amazing – all of these quality foods are at reasonable prices,” he commented. “I said to myself, ‘I need to open up one of these.’ Up until then, Northampton and Whole Foods in Hadley were the closest organic and health food stores – and Whole Foods is an arm and a leg.”

The ex-football player opened up his first Bumpy’s location, with his sister Dishanda Robinson, in Granby, MA in 2017.  The pair relocated the business to Agawam in January of this year to have “more space.”

Gibbs currently helps out with the finances of the operation, while his sister manages the store, which is located at 303 Springfield St.

“Shanda is the manager and she maintains the whole place, I couldn’t do it without her,” said Gibbs. “She is the only girl in the family, so she runs the show.”

Bumpy’s shelves are stocked with natural food items, meaning they are minimally processed and have no hormones, antibiotics or artificial flavors. The aisles are also lined with organic options as well, guaranteeing government-backed assurance that the products are grown and processed without the use of toxic chemicals antibiotics and synthetic growth hormones.

Staple brands such as Annie’s, Kashi and Rao’s can be found throughout the store.

“We have plenty of Gluten-free items and foods that aren’t high in sugar. If it’s in Whole Foods, then we pretty much have it here,” said Gibbs. “We don’t have their produce, but we have all of the packaged goods. We even have healthy pet food.”

When asked about what sets his store apart from other health food grocery stores, he responded with the pricing.

 “Our prices are amazing. We always get great feedback from our customers about the pricing,” said the storeowner. “We want to help feed families healthy food, but at a reasonable price.”

The company’s slogan is,” eat well, feel great and save money.”

Bumpy’s is open from Tuesday to Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday to Monday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For more information, head over to the store’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Bumpys-Natural-Organic-Foods-1208504215915520/.

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