By Matthew Watling
OSWEGO – A near-tragedy soon turned into a lifestyle for James and Lindsay Gaffney of The Organic Earthling, a new storefront in Oswego selling CBD and other organic health and wellness products.
Before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, James was diagnosed with a pituitary brain tumor in 2019. This caused excruciating headaches among other health issues and led to Lindsay researching the effects of cannabidiol (CBD), organic supplements and other natural products.
In July of last year, James’ surgeon told him the tumor shrunk from 17 millimeters to nearly nothing and avoided surgery. The two are incredibly grateful for CBD and other supplements, although they were a bit skeptical of the products before fully researching it.
“To be perfectly honest, we kind of had a little bit of the stereotype in my mind about CBD when people first mentioned it to us,” Lindsay said.
Now, the Gaffneys’ view has completely changed, citing that it helped save James’ life.
Organic Earthling opened as an online vendor in April of 2020 but soon became a storefront, opening its Bridge Street location in late August. Despite the COVID-19-induced closures in the city and around the globe, the Gaffneys saw a great opportunity to fill a need for the Oswego community.
“Nobody was opening businesses, so when I started talking to distributors and even my landlord, everybody was lowering prices, more accommodating to get something new started,” James said. “However, once all the product got in place and everything was painted, traffic was slow.”
While there were some advantages, the two certainly hit some rough patches, as James said they did not see a single customer in the first two days of opening. The City of Oswego offered plenty of programs for local businesses to help them stay afloat, including collaborative meetings among owners. The city also offered a $25 gift certificate to customers that spent $25 at select local businesses.
“The Economic Development Office has been reaching out to local businesses,” Lindsay said. “They did the buy one get one gift certificates, that was very good… We got reimbursed for all the gift certificates that came in. We got a check from [the city]. And then we did joint sales incentives across all the small businesses. Coming up in April, we’re going to do a sale where if people spend $50 at one of our local businesses, they’ll get a $5 coupon that’s cash to use at any other local businesses.”
For the April sale, the local businesses will cover the $5 coupon unlike the $25 one. James and Lindsay reiterated that the city was incredibly helpful, as they said how grateful they are for Oswego and Mayor Billy Barlow.
Despite opening within the last year, Organic Earthling is expanding. The tentative date of its “Zenergy Bar,” as James described it is Earth Day, April 22. The health and wellness cafe will sell organic coffee, fresh-squeezed juices and whole fruit smoothies. The expansion is a testament to the community that has been incredibly well-receptive of the new store, as well as the ultimate mission of Organic Earthling.
“We’re not in it to get rich,” James said. “We’re in it to make Oswego healthy.”
