Natural Grocery Boom Continues
By EMILY RAMSEY
Managing Editor
Even with the recent closing of GreenAcres Market just two years after opening in Jenks, the natural and organic grocery store movement continues to grow locally, begging the question of how many natural grocery stores can Greater Tulsa sustain.
he beginning of the recent influx can be traced back to the opening of GreenAcres Market in August 2012. Opening in 2013 was Sprouts Farmers Market in April, at 10111 S. Memorial Dr., both Natural Grocers, at 9137 E. 71st St., and The Fresh Market, at 8015 S. Yale Ave., in June, a second Natural Grocers, at 3126 S. Harvard Ave., in October, and Whole Foods Market, at 9136 S. Yale Ave., in November.
Opening in 2014 was a second area Sprouts location, at 4123 S. Harvard Ave., in January. A third area Sprouts location open in Broken Arrow, at 851 E. Hillside Dr., on Sept. 10, with plans to open an Owasso location in spring 2015.
Tulsa is also home to longtime natural foods market Akin’s. The nearly 80-year-old company specializes in nutritional supplements and organic produce and holds three metro locations as well as stores in Oklahoma City, Nebraska, Arkansas, Missouri and Kansas. Reasor’s also endeavors to hold a place in the natural foods trend with its continued additions of bulk items and organic produce and food.
The demand for organic and natural foods has clearly picked up steam, and grocers are noticing.
According to the Organic Trade Association’s 2011 Organic Industry Survey, between 1990 and 2010, U.S. sales of organic food and beverage have increased by $25.7 billion. In 2010 alone, the organic market saw food and non-food product sales increase by 9.7 percent.
In May, Sprouts reported its 2014 first quarter net sales of $722.6 million, a year-to-date increase of 26 percent. Net sales growth was driven by a 12.8 percent increase in same store sales growth and in its new store openings. Since January, Sprouts has opened five new locations for a total of 172 stores in nine states as of May 7. Company executives expect to open a total of 24 stores this year.
Colorado-based Natural Grocers, selling organic produce and dietary supplements, announced third quarter sales increases of 18.4 percent, to $134 million, with daily average comparable store sales increasing 3.1 percent. Year to date, sales increased 22 percent, to $385 million, with daily average comparable store sales increasing to 6.3 percent.
The Fresh Market, started in North Carolina in 1982, has since grown to more than 150 locations nationwide. For the first quarter of 2014, net sales increased 17.6 percent, to $431 million, and comparable store sales increased 2.5 percent, to $368.3 million, in comparison with its first quarter of fiscal year 2013.
Whole Foods Market reported a 10 percent increase in total sales, to $3.4 billion, during its third fiscal quarter. Year to date, the company also reports a 10 percent increase for total sales of $10.9 billion.
In the third quarter, Whole Foods opened eight new stores and completed its acquisition of four New Frontiers Natural Marketplace stores, expanding into eight new markets. During the fourth quarter, the company plans to open 13 additional stores.
Whole Foods currently has 388 stores with its 500th store expected to open in 2017. In the long term, company executives expect to see the demand for Whole Foods stores to reach 1,200 in the United States.
Even with these numbers, there is still a lot of room for growth in the natural and organic foods market, says GreenAcres Market President and Co-Owner Shannon Hoffman. “With an aging population and the heightened awareness of childhood obesity, people are seeing that they need awareness.”
GreenAcres recently acquired five stores from Whole Foods Association (no connection to Whole Foods Market) to bring its total store number to seven, one of the reasons that company owners decided to exit the Tulsa market, Hoffman says. Other factors included the added area competition and lack of density around the Jenks store. “Grocery stores need a community around it,” she says.
Two of the stores included in the acquisition are located in Oklahoma: Lawton and Oklahoma City. The company’s current endeavors revolve around increasing its presence in its current and newly-acquired store locations. The company’s other five stores reside in Wichita, Kans., and Kansas City, Mo.
As for the reason behind the surge of area natural grocery stores, “Oklahoma has been underserved in the natural and organic areas for a long time,” Hoffman says. Unfortunately, that boom contributed to the end of GreenAcres in Greater Tulsa.
Time will only tell if any other companies will follow.
Updated 08-24-2014
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