Natural food store of nearly 50 years to close in Brooklyn Heights

BROOKLYN HEIGHTS, Brooklyn (PIX11) – A nearly 50 year old Brooklyn staple will serve its last meal on Sunday.

Perelandra Natural Food Center will close after having served the Brooklyn Heights community since 1976, a representative for the business confirmed.

The store was known for its grocery, meal, and bakery offerings including a plant-based hot food bar, made to order vegan sandwiches, a variety of vegan desserts, and an organic juice bar.

The closing comes because of a culmination of circumstances, the representative said, but particularly that the store never truly recovered from the pandemic. Sales have been down over the last four years, forcing the owners to shutter.

Perelandra originally opened on April 17, 1976 on Montague Street before moving to its current home on Remsen Street. Its namesake comes from a C.S. Lewis book about a paradise planet with an Eden-like setting.

For some Brooklyn residents Perelandra likely felt like a paradise, with its loss moving them to express their shock and sadness over the store’s closing online.

“The loss of Perelandra is a [huge] loss many can’t comprehend. There is no other stor[e] or place where ALL of the fruit and vegetables are organic!,” one person commented on the website Nextdoor.

“So so sorry. They were my go to place for everything healthy and hard to find natural stuff,” another wrote.

A representative for Perelandra says it’s hard to tell what future if any the store holds but shoppers can continue to enjoy its many natural food offerings until Sept. 29.

Dominique Jack is a digital content producer from Brooklyn with more than five years of experience covering news. She joined PIX11 in 2024. More of her work can be found here .

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