Founded in 1988 in Mohua Golden Bay, HealthPost is a family-owned natural health business built on the belief that caring for people and the planet go hand in hand. What began as founder Linley sourcing natural products to support her own health has grown into one of New Zealand’s leading natural health retailers, guided by strong values around ethics, sustainability and transparency. Still based close to its original family home, HealthPost remains deeply committed to supporting natural wellbeing for families, while balancing business growth with care for the environmental and a people-first approach. Here, Values Lead Lucy talks to The Natural Parent Magazine about the inspiration behind their business, the challenges they have overcome, and their hopes and dreams for the future.
The passion: What inspired you to set up your business?
I’m Lucy Butler, Values Lead at HealthPost – a family business founded by my mother, Linley, back in 1988. Mum started HealthPost to help address her own health challenges in a natural way, using products like barley grass and spirulina. She quickly realised that many other people needed better access to natural health products, which were still considered quite niche in the 1980s. The products worked and Mum took great care of her customers, so the business grew naturally from there. I was inspired to join the business, like my brother Abel, because I also deeply believe in helping people live naturally healthy lives.
The launch: How did you start out in the beginning?
Mum was ordering barley grass in bulk to help heal her own gut and she started sharing it around the local community of Mohua Golden Bay. The need was real, demand grew, and Mum ran her business from home for many years so she could also care for her three (then young!) children. We are now in our 40s and HealthPost is in its vastly expanded, solar-powered, purpose-built premises, still less than a kilometre from the original family home! Similarly, despite so many changes, we remain very close to the founding values and vision of the business our mum created.
The innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough for you with your business?
HealthPost ran as a mail order business with a hard-copy printed catalogue for many years. Then the internet happened, and my tech-savvy brother (and long-serving HealthPost CEO), Abel, saw the opportunity to be an early adopter. This transformed HealthPost‘s ability to reach and serve natural health needs here in Aotearoa and beyond. Some of our suppliers were somewhat resistant to selling online initially and we really had to pitch the opportunity to them. Obviously, the rest is history!
Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
Some degree of multi-tasking is inevitable but not aspirational for me: I much prefer to give my children, Isla (12) and Leo (9) my best attention and ditto my work. This isn’t always how it works out, but I’ve become a lot better at setting clear boundaries (mostly with myself!) to make this possible. We have a very capable team who I trust fully and these days I largely know what needs my attention and what doesn’t! HealthPost offers a lot of flexibility, and my family really benefits from that. Ultimately, the business benefits too because it gets my whole attention from a clear, well-resourced place.
