Here's an interesting new service. The Organic Wholesale Club has launched its direct to consumer online store offering wholesale prices on over 14,000 organic and natural items from over 800 brands.

According to the press release sent to me by founder Bob Wolf, by using the Wholesale Club concept of charging a membership fee then offering substantial discounts, the company says it's the first organic and natural online retailer to do this with a large scale online store. One thing is for sure - the store is huge.

Bob says the business model is based on supporting other organic and green businesses and not focused on mark-up. Many of the products are offered at well below recommended retail prices.

Bob Wolf is no stranger to the organic business scene. He created the nation’s first organic and natural vending business in 2005, which has now grown to hundreds of accounts including many school districts and colleges.

An interesting aspect for non-US/Canada folks is the Organic Wholesale Club will also ship internationally, to over 200 countries. Yes, that whacks on some carbon emissions (see food miles), but I find that living in Australia, there's just not the selection of organic and green goods available overseas - so sometimes figuring out whether to have something shipped over or buy the non-green version locally (which is often produced overseas anyway) is a bit of a trade-off.

Speaking of shipping and on a related note; The Organic Wholesale Club uses recyclable and biodegradable packaging.

I've had a quick look around the site and the range is truly impressive - I counted over a hundred categories.

Folks in the US/Canada can become a founding member of The Organic Wholesale Club by joining now for just a buck - for us foreigner-types, it's $25 a year.