- December 20, 2024
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Fountain Square Shopping Village in Ormond Beach has added a new store: oHHo Ormond Beach, a botanical wellness and holistic healing shop selling CBD and organic hemp products.
Run by East Coast Botanicals, LLC, the store was opened by Erin Alvalle, a former Volusia County Schools teacher. Having struggled with pain for her entire life, Alvalle found out about the brand after trying one of the products in February.
"It literally took me off pain medicine and changed my life," Alvalle said. "It just made me feel better. I was a better teacher, a better mom, a better wife."
She wondered if there was a possibility to help others the same way, so when she was offered the opportunity to open a store locally, Alvalle took it. She opened oHHo on June 10 at 142 E. Granada Blvd., Suite 6.
Founded by James and Nicola Stephenson, oHHo hemp and CBD products all come from small farms. The products range from CBD gummies — called "Dots" — to chocolate, dog biscuits and THC seltzers.
Alvalle, a resident of Daytona Beach, said she thinks a lot of people are searching for a holistic approach to health these days, and part of her role in operating the store is educating customers on the type of CBD products oHHo are. This is not a chemical-based CBD company, she said.
"I'm finding that once somebody tries it, and we get them on the right product for them, that they're coming back for more because they feel good on it and you don't have any weird side effect with our hemp at all," Alvalle said. "... I think when people hear CBD, they think 'I'm going to have some weird adverse reaction to it,' as opposed to, 'It's just going to make me feel better.'"
Her favorite thing about being a business owner is meeting new people, she said.
"I have a lot of people who have been return customers and once I meet you one time, I'm probably going to know your name and remember what you came in for and what you're going to need again," she said.
Alvalle was an educator for 19 years. Being a business owner now means shifting her knowledge of education in a new direction, she said.
"I've always loved educating because you get to see when something starts working for a child," Alvalle said. "It's really honestly the same thing here."
Alvalle will be hosting a grand opening for oHHo in the near future. Visit https://weareohho.com/?cb-ref=ERINALVALLE.