Here's a bigger KICKER
 

Dien is correct about Walmart and personal choices.....

and here is another KICKER...

Walmart is building....and what are they building?....Super Stores!!!

Huge stores with huge parking lots.

Guess what the seniors are aging and as they do they can't park their car (if they can still drive) way out in the parking lot, walk 500 feet, then go into a huge store where they have to walk tremendous distances to get a product (even if it is cheaper), stand patiently in long lines, and then walk that 500 feet back to their car.....physically they just can't accomplish it.....there is a pending market for all kinds of services and products that can be mailed or delivered to these people.

Personally I avoid Walmart like the plague....and even moreso now that they opened a super store 2 months ago here....I believe in, and try to only buy, products made in Canada or the USA....I'll be dam""d if I will support the Chinese or Mexicans if I can help it...unfortunately it is getting harder and harder to do.

Sorry about that last expletitive...just feel very strongly on that issue.

Cornell

I Agree... It is marketing!
 

Aloha Gordon and SowPubbers,

Gordon, that was an awesome post. It really got the juices flowing and the ideas popping into my head.

I loved the products that were put out by Bill Phillips. I started reading his "Muscle Media 2000" magazine back in 1993 and always admired his marketing talents. The magazine was the perfect marketing vehicle for his supplements.

I wished I had kept my copies of the magazine as swipe. I threw them out in December when I loved to Washington.

I like your idea on Hawai'ian products... more thinking to do!

Aloha,

Jason

PS: I take back the "ape choking on a banana" thing. ;)

PPS: Are you still selling that product? Where is the URL if you are?

Kava Is Evil
 

Aloha Jim,

Thanks for your reply!


I worked as a cop in Honolulu for many years -- and the Samoans on my beat used to get $#!t-faced on that stuff. :)

I looked into kava, but the dangers (liver toxicity) are well documented. I can't sell something I don't believe in. I am sure you are the same way.

Right now I am leaning towards creating my own line of nutritional supplements (like protein powders, etc.) targeted at three specific markets.


I am living in Washington State right now. This is where I am going to retire and build my fortress.

My daughter lives in Honolulu with my ex, so I make frequent trips.

Aloha,

Jason

It's a Myth.....
 

Yeah, that will happen if taken in massive amounts. Not much different than the other 99.9% of the world getting $#!t-faced on alcohol. And people don't get as stupid on it as they would with alcohol. Totally different effects.


You should research this a bit more. The Samoans you mentioned? They will never see liver damage from the Kava, nor will any of the users that take it in it's traditional form. (just the ground roots)

When the big pharm companies started seeing the benefits of Kava and started importing it to make medecines, they found it cheaper to import the whole plant and to use the whole plant in their medecines. The leaves and stems and all. People who have used these medecines are the only ones that have ever experienced any liver damage. But even those cases are extremely rare.

There has never been a case of liver damage from Kava when taken in it's traditional form and it's been used for a few thousand years in the islands of the Pacific.

It is, IMO, the most incredible plant on the earth.


Okay, I've got to ask....

What would make someone move from Hawaii to Washington?

I grew up in Washington and after 20+ years there, couldn't wait to get out. Phoenix has been a fun pit-stop but Hawaii is my final destination to retire to and live happily ever after.


I get there as often as I can too. Let me know next time you're there and I'll buy you a cup of Kava or two :-)

Jim

Not Kava... But be Careful what you Buy/Sell & market online!
 

There's always going to be a Great marketplace and Potential for all kinds of Health related Supplement products...

But Apply Caution...

Remember... Money isn't everything... :)

Coroner blames online pills for B.C. woman's death
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNew...ub=CTVNewsAt11

Phil

Re: Poor Research Is Evil
 

From:http://tinyurl.com/2pcdc4


Another false herbal scare arose over kava kava, the South Pacific Island herb that helps to overcome mild cases of depression. Pharmaceutical companies in Europe were selling kava kava and reported, without adequate substantiation, that there were reports of liver toxicity in less than 100 people and withdrew the herb (a drug in Europe) from distribution in 2002. US sales of kava kava were then about $34 million a year. The American Herbal Products Association was put on the defensive to prove a long-used herbal extract was safe when there were only specious reports of liver toxicity from Europe.

Then the US Food & Drug Administration destroyed US sales of kava kava by issuing a warning of a potential hazard and asked health professionals to report any cases of liver toxicity associated with this herb. (For comparison, the US Poison Control Centers report that acetaminophen (Tylenol) causes 70,000 reported cases of liver toxicity annually which results in 70-100 deaths per year.) Only a handful of adverse reports were submitted to the FDA by US physicians. None panned out to be of concern. But consumers taking kava kava for anxiety and depression were getting more anxious and depressed every time they heard another negative news reports about kava.

Dr. Donald Waller, a toxicologist and professor at the University of Illinois, reviewed the reported cases of liver toxicity associated with the use of kava kava and concluded there was no clear evidence that the liver damage reported in the US and Europe was caused by the consumption of kava. Other researchers also could not find a link between kava and the reported cases of liver toxicity. [Planta Med. 2004 Mar; 70: 193-6] In many of these cases the kava patients were also taking prescription drugs that are known to be toxic to the liver. But the May 2004 issue of Consumer Reports still listed kava among its list of Dangerous Supplements Still at Large. Dr. Marvin Lipman, Consumer Reports chief medical advisor said: Given the weight of the evidence against Kava, we would urge everyone to avoid its use." In March of 2004 Canadian researchers were horrified that health food stores were still recommending kava kava to their customers. [J Gen Intern Med. 2004 Mar; 19: 269-72]

There was no clear evidence that the liver damage reported in the US and Europe was caused by the consumption of kava. --Dr. Donald Waller, toxicologist

Among Hawaiian farmers, sales of kava kava raw material dropped by 87% in just one year. [Hawaii Dept. of Agriculture] Thousands of jobs were wiped out. An efficacious anti-anxiety herb was cast into question, and most consumers didn't suspect that there were competing commercial interests behind this whole fiasco.