More About Rosewood Market
From our humble beginnings in the fall of 1973 as The Basil Pot restaurant, Rosewood Market has held dear the idea that people can take an active, hands-on approach to their own wellness through delicious food. Apparently a lot of you agreed, because today we’re thriving, happily and healthfully ever after. 
Rosewood Market has operated in its current location since June 1989. Prior to this, it was called Rosewood Natural Foods and was located a block away in a smaller store. It’s not just about us, though…
Hundreds of people have contributed to the success of Rosewood Market — employees, spouses, thoughtful customers, neighbors, farmers, landscapers, advertisers, maintenance personnel, craftsmen and many others. It is truly a community supported business. Rosewood Market is a part of many peoples’ lives and an influence on the healthy lifestyles of Columbia, South Carolina, residents and to those just passing through.
We are proud to be serving the children of children who ate and shopped at The Basil Pot and Rosewood Natural Foods beginning in the 1970s; we hope to continue this tradition into the years ahead.
Our commitment to the environment and to the Columbia community is part of everything we do, and we welcome your ideas and suggestions. You can visit the original ‘local market’ seven days a week, rain or shine.
Environmental Efforts
Here at Rosewood Market, we strive to minimize our impact on the waste stream. We are proud to partner with Atlas Organics in Upstate South Carolina to compost the majority of our waste including:
- All paper and paper products: magazines, newspaper, office paper, shredded paper, and register/receipt paper
- Organic matter from the kitchen and produce departments
- Deli waste such as plates, cups, bowls, napkins, and utensils, as well as customer food waste
- Simply put, anything that comes from nature
Paper and paper products take up the largest segment of a community’s landfill, so we are thrilled to have the chance to compost. Cardboard, though, is the biggest piece of our waste stream at Rosewood Market. To combat this, we rent a dumpster that is dedicated to cardboard recycling. We are able to divert nearly 100% of the cardboard that comes into the store.
We regularly recycle glass, aluminum, and recyclable plastics through the City of Columbia Solid Waste Division. Six-pack rings, batteries, phone books, wooden pallets, miscellaneous ferrous metal are recycled as well. Fluorescent tubes are not currently recycled, but are being stored until one can be found.
We receive produce in waxed boxes, which do not recycle. However, we give them back to our farmers for them to reuse.
Styrofoam and bubble wrap packing material are separated and bagged and offered to a local shipping firm at no cost to them.
Empty five-gallon buckets and wooden vegetable crates are set at the curb for one last offering of reuse to passers-by. More often than not they are taken.
As a result, the smallest possible trash dumpster meets our needs for the rest of our waste that must go to the landfill.