Earth Fare to close all stores, including 7 around Charlotte and 2 in the Triangle
North Carolina-based specialty grocer Earth Fare is closing all of its stores, the company said Monday, a move that impacts seven Charlotte-area locations and a total of 13 in North Carolina.
The Asheville company, which sells organic and natural foods, cited challenges in the retail industry in a press release announcing the closure. The grocery chain said it will start discounting its inventory in all of its stores.
The move comes amid the highly competitive grocery store competition in the Charlotte area.
The number of grocery stores in the Charlotte metro area has grown by 38% in the past five years, according to sales-tracking firm Chain Store Guide. And experts told industry publication GroceryDive.com it’s one of the top four markets in the country to watch this year.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the news. The paper said the company has already begun closing its approximately 50 stores.
The sales started Monday and each location will close once its inventory is sold out, said Jennifer Mercer, a company spokeswoman. The grocer expects all locations to close by the end of February, she said.
Earth Fare has two stores in South Charlotte and one in Steele Creek, as well as in Huntersville, Concord, Fort Mill, S.C., and Rock Hill. It has 13 North Carolina stores, according to the Earth Fare website, including in Raleigh and Morrisville.
And it operates in 10 states. In addition to the Carolinas, it is in Alabama, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee, Florida, Indiana and Virginia.
Earth Fare employs around 3,000 people, with 900 North Carolina workers, Mercer said. She said employees were notified of the closure Monday morning.
‘Difficult but necessary’ move
In announcing its closure, Earth Fare cited continuing challenges in the retail industry which impeded its progress and its ability to refinance its debt.
“As a result, Earth Fare is not in a financial position to continue to operate on a go-forward basis,” the company said in a statement. “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.”
Earth Fare’s closure stands in contrast to the growth plans CEO Frank Scorpiniti detailed in an interview with the Observer last year when the chain opened the Steele Creek location.
At the time, he said the firm expected to open another 50 locations across the U.S. in the next five years. “There’s a movement toward health and wellness in the United States,” Scorpiniti said at the time.
Staff writer Adam Bell contributed
