Christensens saying so long to Columbia Falls

After more than 22 years of helping folks in Columbia Falls eat healthy, Bruce Christensen and his wife Alice will close the Harvest Health Shoppe on Nucleus Avenue. The store was one of the longest running businesses on Nucleus, which has seen plenty of ventures come and go over the years.

The couple ran a health food store in Colorado before moving to Columbia Falls. The store and the community have been good to them over the years.

“The Columbia Falls area has been so loyal,” Bruce said last week.

The couple has been vegetarians for more than 40 years. At 65, Bruce said he feels great. He starts his day by drinking a quart of water, some chlorophyll liquid and a few other supplements.

The couple grew up in North Dakota and will return to the farm Alice grew up on outside of Williston when they leave Columbia Falls in a few weeks. Bruce said the plan is to take the store with them and build it into a mail order business.

“There’s a lot of health-minded people in the valley,” he said. “We try to give good service, good products. We do a lot of special ordering, and people have responded well.”

They raised a family of four — birth daughter Nanette and three adopted sons — Isaac and twins David and Daniel.

Nanette is a certified teacher and runs The Reading Cottage in Columbia Falls. Isaac is a roustabout-pipeline welder in the Williston oil fields. David has served in Iraq with the Army National Guard, and Daniel is currently serving with the National Guard in Afghanistan.

“We’ll miss Columbia Falls tremendously,” Bruce said.

Anyone wanting to keep in touch can call the store current number at 892-5644. Calls will be forwarded to North Dakota.