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| The first Atlanta area Sprouts Farmers Market opened to huge crowds last week in Snellville. |
The next twelve to twenty four months are shaping up to be huge in metro Atlanta in the battle for grocery dollars in the rapidly growing specialty foods industry.
Greensboro, North Carolina-based The Fresh Market (NASDAQ: TFM) recently confirmed plans to open what will be its thirteenth location in Georgia, near Toco Hills. Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ: WFM) plans to add two additional stores to metro Atlanta in addition to one opening this fall in Augusta. Phoenix, Arizona-based Sprouts Farmers Market (NASDAQ: SFM) recently opened its first Atlanta area location in Snellville, and has three other metro Atlanta locations slated to open later this year. Asheville, North Carolina-based EarthFare plans to open at least two Atlanta area locations with others "proposed" but not "confirmed."
Sprouts Farmers Marketentered the metro Atlanta market earlier this month when it opened its first area location at The Shoppes at Webb Gin. Sprouts plans to open three additional locations between now and September.
In Dunwoody, Sprouts will open July 16th at Mount Vernon Shopping Center. The new Sprouts replaces what was most recently an Ace Homeplace store, and before that a Harris- Teeter. (Until recently, Kroger, which purchased many Harris Teeter locations, had continued to pay the lease on the empty building to prevent competition from entering.)
In Peachtree Corners, Sprouts will anchor the new Fuqua Development project "Peachtree Corners Market." The new center is currently under construction and is located on Peachtree Parkway across the street from The Forum. The Sprouts at Peachtree Corners is scheduled to open August 20th.
Sprouts will open at Johns Creek Town Center September 17th. The store will open in a former Shoe Gallery space, adjacent to Stein-Mart. Johns Creek Town Center is located at the northwest corner of McGinnis Ferry Road and Peachtree Parkway in Johns Creek.
While the above mentioned stores have all been confirmed by Sprouts publicly, the stores listed below are confirmed by my sources, but a spokesperson at Sprouts in Phoenix refused to comment as to when (or whether) they may open.
In Smyrna, Sprouts will anchor Olde Ivy Village. The new center, near the intersection of South Cobb Drive and the East West Connector, was previously home to a vacant Home Depot Landscape Supply, but will soon welcome Sprouts and a number of new businesses. Del Taco and Krispy Kreme are slated to open later this year, while an industry source tells me Sprouts is not due to open until mid 2015.
Sprouts will also anchor the new "Sandy Springs Gateway" project being constructed on Roswell Road near Windsor Parkway in Sandy Springs. The Sprouts location is also reportedly on track for a "mid 2015" opening.
On Piedmont Avenue in Morningside, Sprouts will anchor another as-yet-unnamed Fuqua Development project. This store is slated for a late first/early second quarter 2016 opening.
In Roswell, Sprouts will open at Roswell Marketplace, which sits at the corner of Mansell Road and Alpharetta Highway, and was previously a Big Star grocery store. According to the property's website/site plan, this store is expected to open March 2015.
In Cumming, Sprouts is opening a store at Lakeland Plaza. Sprouts will open in place of a vacant Stein Mart in a center that also includes a vacant Kroger. This store was originally announced to open this year, but was delayed for unknown reasons, and will reportedly open during the first quarter of next year.
EarthFarewill open one of their first Atlanta area locations at the Collection at Forsyth (previously Avenues Forsyth). (EarthFare already operates stores in Athens and Martinez/Augusta) The Forsyth store will be built along Ronald Reagan Boulevard in a currently undeveloped portion of the center. Sources within EarthFare tell me this store is slated to open in September.
EarthFare will also open a store at Peachtree Corners, occupying a space currently home to OfficeMax. OfficeMax is slated to close later this week, with EarthFare planning to open in mid October. The space was originally a Bruno's Supermarket. (When open, this may be one of the most competitive markets with Trader Joes in The Forum, Sprouts opening in Peachtree Corners Market and a large Whole Foods Market just north on State Bridge Road.)
Phase Two of Emory Point on Clifton Road near Emory University will also be home to a new EarthFare. The new store, being built from the ground up, will anchor the project and should open in the third quarter of next year.
Another EarthFare has been proposed for Sandy Springs, but I have yet to hear it confirmed so it would be premature to announce an exact location.
Whole Foods Market plans to grow its current Georgia store count with plans for at least three new stores. Currently, the chain operates seven flagship Whole Foods Market stores as well as two Harry's Farmers Market locations. Whole Foods plans to open its new location at Avalon in Alpharetta this coming October. Whole Foods, along with a twelve screen Regal Cinemas, will anchor the long delayed "lifestyle center" on Old Milton Parkway, just off GA400.
Augusta will also receive a new Whole Foods store. The store will open on Washington Road at Washington Crossing Shopping Center. This store is reportedly on track for a "late fall 2014" opening.
Another as yet unnamed Fuqua Development project in Kennesaw at the corner of Cobb and Barrett Parkways will also be home to a Whole Foods Market. The store is not currently under construction and is reportedly not scheduled to open until 2016.
The Fresh Market recently confirmed its plans to open a new location at North Druid Hills and Briarcliff Roads not far from Toco Hills. The new store will open at "Brighten Park" (fka Loehmann's Plaza.) When confirming the store opening, a projected opening of "Summer 2015" was also announced.
Oh yeah, Your DeKalb Farmers Market near Decatur is also expanding in a HUGE way. The local farmers market has started to clear land (it had already acquired years earlier in a Walt Disney-like master plan in anticipation of tremendous growth.) The current 142,000 square foot retail space will more than double in size and may eventually be about 550,000 square feet. In addition, a major increase in warehouse space and more than 2,600 new parking spaces are coming to the property. The 100-plus-acre project is (sadly) expected to replace most of the wooded area between its current parking lot and DeKalb Industrial Way. Exact dates of the planned expansion remain unclear but current plans calls for the first phase to be finished sometime next year and the entire project to be completed in phases, ending no later than 2023.
Whole Foods Markets are often smaller than a Kroger but larger than the typical 25,000-35,000 square feet stores that The Fresh Market, Sprouts Farmers Market and EarthFare are often found occupying.
Sprouts did a market buy for radio advertising last month ahead of of opening in Snellville. Interestingly enough, a short time later, Whole Foods started a radio advertising campaign where they emphasized the "whole" in their name. I'm a long time Atlanta radio listener and until this month I had never heard a Whole Foods radio ad.
Sprouts did a market buy for radio advertising last month ahead of of opening in Snellville. Interestingly enough, a short time later, Whole Foods started a radio advertising campaign where they emphasized the "whole" in their name. I'm a long time Atlanta radio listener and until this month I had never heard a Whole Foods radio ad.
As for everyone wanting for one of these grocers or similar store to open at the vacant Kroger/Harris Teeter in Brookhaven at Brookhaven Plaza, keep hoping. Kroger controls the nearly 45,000 anchor space and seems content to pay $40,000 monthly rent for that space to prevent competition from entering.
Though it seems implausible given the significant financial investments being made by each grocer in metro Atlanta, there has been talk of consolidation within the industry. Rumors of a Publix buyout of Whole Foods Market started earlier this month. Separately, there have been ongoing mentions of a potential for Sprouts/EarthFare/The Fresh Market to buy one another given their strengths in their respective regions and similar store sizes.
Where will you shop? Who should buy who? Have you been to the new Sprouts in Snellville? Where should one of these grocers open next? Do you think Your DeKalb Farmers Market will become too big? Please comment below and share your thoughts.