Semilla Natural Foods originally opened as Old Town Natural Foods in historic old town Las Vegas in 1971. With a small budget and no experience, 17 year-old Jane Lumsden and her then-boyfriend Bob Martyn, opened with the mission to offer the local community good food at a good price. Straight from high school they took their passion of natural foods and macrobiotics and created a retail space with large ceramic crocks for bulk food and glass gallon jars for herbs and a limited inventory.
For 10 years they grew steadily and then moved to their present location, a quaint house built in the 1920’s and remodeled to suit their needs. In 1998 Jane became sole owner and in 2002 completed a second renovation adding over 2,000 sq ft for more quality items to fit!
Jane retired in the summer of 2024 after 53 years of serving the community and handed over the business to Makani, Jane’s youngest daughter, to carry forward.
My name is Makani and I was born in Las Vegas and raised in Semilla.
With both my parent’s being small business owners, I was raised learning how to interact with customers, visualizing new and fun ideas for the store, and watching the sweat and hardwork that goes into owning a business.
When I was a senior in high school, I moved half way around the world to India to complete my senior year of high school. This allowed me to get accepted into Seattle University where I graduated in 2015 with a Bachelors in Environmental Studies with an emphasis on Urban Sustainability. For the next 10 years, I worked in various retail jobs, animal rescue and non-profit work, and then as an Executive Assistant and Director of Operations for a global media company.
Owning Semilla was never in my vision cards but I couldn’t be more excited to take over the store and continue to carry on my mom’s legacy and life’s work.
Check out this incredible video that Jane’s granddaughter directed and produced in honor of Jane’s 53 year journey with the store! Hear what some of our amazing vendors, farmers, and customers have to say about their Semilla experience!
