Elephant Pharm is 'closed indefinitely'

Elephant Pharm, a small San Francisco Bay Area drugstore with an emphasis on herbs and holistic health, abruptly shut its doors on Feb. 3, 2009, citing "the terrible turn the economy has taken."

Visitors to the Berkeley location - and presumably the stores in San Rafael and Walnut Creek as well - will now find posted notices announcing, among other things, the company's intention to file Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

A separate notice reads: "It is with a heavy heart that we post this notice: Elephant Pharm, which has served over 1 million customers in four Bay Area markets, has closed indefinitely."

The company engaged in negotiations with potential investors for the past year, according to the bankruptcy notice, but "the company was ultimately unable to meet its mounting obligations and regretfully had no choice but to close it (sic) stores."

Elephant employed 190 people at its three locations and home office.

On any given day, one could find all sorts of interesting and health-enhancing classes at Elephant, covering everything from yoga to dream interpretation to better breathing techniques. The Berkeley store was also known among certain health-conscious circles for maintaining a blood pressure machine that consistently gave accurate readings.

Learn more at http://www.elephantpharm.com/

Other holistic-focused shopping alternatives in or near Berkeley include Pharmaca at 1744 Solano and the Natural Grocery Company, with stores at 1336 Gilman in Berkeley and 10367 San Pablo Ave. in El Cerrito.

Pharmaca: http://shopinberkeley.com/p/pharmaca/index.php

Berkeley and El Cerrito Natural Groceries: http://www.naturalgrocery.com/

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