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New natural Foods grocery store coming to Greeley |
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Written by Maria St. Louis-Sanchez for NEXTnc
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Monday, 04 June 2007 |
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A natural foods grocery store coming to town may fill a growing demand for organic produce in Greeley, but some merchants worry about the potential impacts on their business.
Sunflower Farmers Market recently announced plans to build a 25,000 square foot store in a new shopping center going up at 47th Avenue between 16th and 20th streets.
"There's not much competition, no Whole Foods or Vitamin Cottage," said Pat Gilliland, in charge of new store development for the market. "I think the fit will be good for Greeley."
The market, which emphasizes natural foods and a small-store feel is the brainchild of the founders of Wild Oats. Gilliland said Sunflower is meant to give a different feel than the super-size natural foods store, emphasizing on fresh produce at low prices.
With giants such as Wal-Mart around, the grocery store competition has been fierce. In the past few years, Greeley has lost both Toddys grocery store and an Albertson's store.
Gilliland acknowledged that the grocery store business is tough, but said that the Sunflower concept captures a different market than the traditional grocery.
"I think it's a different concept," he said. "It's a wider appeal."
There's no question that the country is in an organic food boom. The U.S. Department of Agriculture expects organic food sales to reach $23.8 billion by 2010, up 72 percent from 2005.
Organic food accounts for 2 percent of total retail food sales in the U.S., according to the agriculture department. By 2010, it is expected to make up 3.5 percent of the market. To help fill the void, mainstream grocers have been increasing the amount of organic produce they sell, and plenty of chains, such as Sunflower and Whole Foods, have been popping up and expanding rapidly.
Margaret Neumann has owned Cottonwood Health Cottage, 2412 17th St. in Greeley, since 1974 and has seen tremendous growth in the natural food business.
"We began downtown, and in those days, there was not nearly the market that we have now," she said.
Many of Greeley's natural stores, including Mountain View Natural Foods, 2539 11th Ave., tend to focus on the vitamin supplements and health and beauty products. Neumann said the amount of organic produce sold in Greeley has been lacking.
"I think King Soopers does a good job with organic, but I'm well aware that there are people who do leave town to find a better selection," she said.
Even though Sunflower will be small by traditional grocery store standards, it will be the big kid on the block when compared with Greeley's independent natural food stores.
"The mom and pop shops will feel it pretty hard," said Sophia Armas, store buyer for Mountain View Natural Foods. "I think it would be better if the markets here expanded."
She expects Mountain View to take a hit, at least initially, when Sunflower moves in. But in the end, she thinks the store's faithful clientele will remain.
Neumann doesn't know how to feel about Sunflower just yet.
"Whether I'm worried or not, I don't know," Neumann said. "I've been doing this a long time, and people here have been really good to us, and we hope that they will keep shopping with us."
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About Sunflower Farmers Market
• The store emphasizes fresh produce and low prices. Though it offers an extensive selection of organic produce and food, conventional products are available as well.
• Most stores are relatively small in size to give them more of a farmers market type of feel.
• Sunflower has 11 operating stores, including one in Fort Collins, and four new sites under construction.
• The Greeley store, which will be in a shopping center at 47th Avenue between 16th and 17th streets expects to be open by July 2008. | Only registered users can write comments.
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