Since 1969, Swanson Health Products has taken pride in bringing wellness to the world and helping you obtain the very best of health so you can focus on what you love. It all started with one man wanting to take care of his health so he could keep doing what he loved. Here’s the story.
It Started On the Golf CourseSwanson history timeline
It was the late 1950s and Leland Swanson’s worst fear was starting to become reality—arthritis was setting in, threatening his golf game. Golf was his passion. He loved the game, but what he loved even more was playing with friends and family and getting to know people on the course who shared his passion. Arthritis was slowly taking it all away from him, and so began his lifelong journey down the path of natural health and wellness.
Leland read everything he could get his hands on in relation to arthritis and overall wellness, including countless books and articles by natural health pioneers such as Paul Bragg and Adelle Davis. He attended lectures and conversed with other health conscious individuals. Following up on what he learned, Leland began taking vitamin E supplements.
Leland’s commitment to health expanded in 1968 when he decided to share the wellness with others. He ordered 5,000 vitamin E capsules from an Ohio manufacturer and started advertising to consumers through the mail. Other nutritional supplements followed, and before long he was sending out small catalogs to potential customers. Swanson Health Products was born in 1969.
The Family Business is Born
When Swanson Health Products (SHP) opened, Leland declared that “the satisfaction and goodwill of our valued customers is our most important asset.” He pledged to “provide the world’s finest dietary supplements at the lowest possible prices with honest, outstanding customer service.” Those founding principles remain just as important today as they were back in 1969, and they remain that way because of the Swanson family vision.
While Leland’s oldest son Jay was working at a bank when Swanson operations began, younger son Lee was still in school and spent his free time helping his father. He was his father’s first employee, and together they started offering a line of basic nutritional supplements. SHP boomed in the 1970s as more people found out about their quality, pricing and service. “We went from zero customers in 1969 to about 30,000 by 1979,” Lee later noted.
Inviting You Into the Family
As Swanson Health Products continues to grow, so does our dedication to your health. Our commitment starts right at home in the Fargo community. Lee Swanson said, "We take our responsibilities of corporate citizenship very seriously. Fargo has been very good to us. This is our hometown and it is our duty to support the community in any way we can."
