Bambi’s Green Acres owner seeks successor as retirement approaches
After 30 years in business, Bambi Wilson is looking for the right person to take over Bambi’s Green Acres Natural Market in Council Bluffs as she prepares for retirement.
Wilson said she intends to continue operating the store while searching for a buyer who can maintain the relationships and services she has built over three decades. If she is unable to find that person, however, she plans to close the business by the end of March 2027. “I know my customers don’t want to hear this, but if I can’t find somebody by the end of March of ’27, that’s when I’m going to call it quits,” Wilson said.
The decision is not simply about finding someone willing to purchase the business. Wilson has already spoken with potential buyers and turned some away because she did not believe the fit was right. She wants someone with enough knowledge of natural health products to continue serving longtime customers while also having the freedom to make the business their own. “I don’t want to see anybody fail,” Wilson explained. “If the person that buys it fails, then my customers fail.”
Wilson said personality has not been the problem with the people she has considered so far. Several would have fit well with customers, but she did not believe they had enough background in the products and supplements that have become the foundation of the store. She acknowledged that no new owner will operate exactly as she has, but hopes the core products and services customers have relied on will remain available.
The approaching deadline is also being influenced by Wilson’s own health and age. She will turn 70 in 2027 and expects to need knee replacement surgery after spending years working on her feet. Without the longtime employee who previously worked alongside her, Wilson said she is now spending even more of the day standing and handling the store herself.
Retirement has been on her mind, but she has continued to focus primarily on the customers walking through the door each day rather than looking too far ahead. “I kind of get up and put my blinders on as to anything negative and I just keep going,” Wilson noted. “I’m still concentrating on my customers when they come in and what they want and looking for that perfect person.”
Bambi’s Green Acres has been part of the Council Bluffs business community for three decades, and Wilson said many of the relationships she has developed go well beyond a typical customer and business owner connection. Some longtime customers have her personal cell phone number and continue to contact her directly with questions.
That relationship with customers is one reason Wilson expects she will remain involved in natural health even after leaving the store. She said she may continue offering consultations independently and would like to refer clients back to Bambi’s Green Acres if a new owner keeps the business operating. “I’m kind of hoping I’ll do something like that when I’m done,” she said. “Hopefully the store will stay, someone will buy it and I’ll send it down to the store.”
Wilson acknowledged that finding the right successor has become something of a balancing act. She does not want to make the requirements so strict that no buyer can qualify, but she also does not want someone investing in the business without being prepared to succeed. She said she may eventually need to relax some of her expectations while keeping the most important parts of the operation intact.
The store remains open at 805 S. Main St. in Council Bluffs while the search continues. Wilson said the business is currently closed on Mondays and open on the first and last Saturdays of each month. For now, she is continuing to operate the store while hoping the right person eventually walks through the door with an interest in taking over. Wilson said retirement represents a major change after spending so much of her life building the business, but she is beginning to accept that a new chapter is approaching. “I’m going into a new season of my life, which is scary,” she said.
