Lakewood Ranch loses organic grocery store as Earth Fare announces store closures
The anchor supermarket at The Green at Lakewood Ranch shopping center announced in a press release Monday that it plans to close all of its stores.
In the coming weeks, the 23,500-square-foot store will get rid of its final inventory with liquidation sales. The company owned and operated 14 stores in Florida, including the Lakewood Ranch store on State Road 70.
“Earth Fare has been proud to serve the natural and organic grocery market, and the decision to begin the process of closing our stores was not entered into lightly,” the company said in a press release.
Earth Fare opened at The Green in January 2018, with an emphasis on fresh produce that didn’t use genetically modified organisms (GMOs) or artificial colors. The company began as a small store based in Asheville, N.C., in 1975.
“Earth Fare is not in a financial position to continue to operate on a go-forward basis. As such, we have made the difficult, but necessary decision to commence inventory liquidation sales while we continue to engage in a process to find potential suitors for our stores,” the press release said.
The supermarket hired more than 100 people to staff the Lakewood Ranch store when it opened. Earth Fare’s going-out-of-business sale comes just weeks after Lucky’s Market announced that it would most of its Florida stores.
Lucky’s was in the middle of building a new grocery store at the the corner of Manatee Avenue and 75th Street West, where Albertson’s used to be. However, Kroger, the store’s primary investor, announced that it was pulling funding after an underwhelming “portfolio review.”
Both chains are now in talks to sell off their properties and assets. In initial discussions, Publix and Aldi have agreed to lease five stores each from Lucky’s Market. Neither has decided to pick up the Bradenton location that was planned.
This a developing story. Stay tuned to bradenton.com for updates.
This story was originally published February 3, 2020 at 11:38 AM.
