COLUMBIA, S.C. — When the Asheville-based healthy grocery store chain Earth Fare announced that it would be closing all of its stores in February, there was a bit of surprise in the community. The Columbia location had been at the intersection of Devine Street and Millwood Avenue for over 20 years, and the chain had opened its 50th location in Charlotte just last year.
Now, a new company formed by former Earth Fare management has bought the company name and rights and plans to reopen a total of seven Earth Fare locations, including Columbia. The new Earth Fare company will be headed by president Bethany Turon, a former Earth Fare senior vice president of human resources; original Earth Fare co-founder Randy Talley; and former Earth Fare CEO Mike Cianciarulo.
Turon says that they hope to finalize the plans sometime next week for reopening Columbia in Fall 2020.
The store will be "substantially the same," she says, with some of the same products – groceries, prepared foods, and bulk items – that customers have known.
"The Earth Fare brand name products will have to be rebuilt," she says, and asks customers to be patient. "The stores are really like a start-up, but run by people who have worked at Earth Fare before."
The new Earth Fare will be doing some things differently.
Turon says instead of paper promotion, the store will be going digital. Money that had once been spent on advertising would be used to invest in the community. She says the company would like to help fund and support individuals and organizations within the stores' communities – such as local shelters or farms – whose underlying ideals align with Earth Fare’s mission of trying to better the world.
Earth Fare locations "will not be cookie cutter," Turon says, but will adapt to their communities. Each store will have a community outreach team to foster relationships and partnerships with other like-minded businesses.
The digital platform will also be an easy access point for feedback from customers – a place where Earth Fare management can take suggestions or be more flexible with individual store’s preferences or tastes. Anything from highlighting a customer's favorite recipe on the hot bar to a manager's special of the week.
Earth Fare Columbia will be posting updates on their Facebook page.