Natural Grocers is moving into the Tucson market, with its first store opening Jan. 20 and three more planned within 18 months.
The Colorado-based company will open this month at 7220 E. Broadway in a space vacated by Office Depot. It recently signed a lease for its second location, at Broadway Village Shopping Center at East Broadway and North Country Club Road.
Each store employs about 25 people to start with, and works up to about 50 people within five years, said Kemper Isely, co-president of Natural Grocers. Eighty-five percent of those employees have full-time positions, he said.
The company has 91 stores in 15 states, employing more than 2,000 people, and plans to open a total of 18 stores in fiscal year 2015.
The chain says it carries only organically grown produce, naturally raised meats, pasture-raised dairy products and groceries that do not have artificial colors, flavorings, preservatives or sweeteners.
A mix of national brand and locally grown products will be available at the Natural Grocers store, as long as those products meet the company’s standards.
“Every one of our stores have local products from the local area,” Isely said. “In regards to produce, we definitely try to have local produce as long as it comes from an organically certified farm.”
It also has a supplement and body-care department, pet-food department and household goods in its 18,000-square-foot store.
The differentiators between Natural Grocers and its competitors, which Isely said are Whole Foods and Sprouts, are the credentialed nutritional health coach the store has on its staff — as a complimentary service to educate customers and staffers — and affordable prices, Isely said.
Sprouts Farmers Market also boasts affordable prices on healthy foods and, even though competition has increased, the company doesn’t seem worried.
“The competitive nature of the specialty grocers has increased,” said Donna Egan, director of corporate communications for Sprouts. “However, our strategy has always been based on value, and that is something that will remain a core tenet to Sprouts.”
All of the competition is good for consumers because it drives prices down, said Phil Lempert, editor of supermarketguru.com.
Tucson was chosen as a new market for Natural Grocers because it is a “city that has been very supportive of natural foods and also of supplement stores,” Isely said.
Tucson’s reputation of being an outdoors- and health-oriented city is part of the draw for companies such as Natural Grocers, said Andy Seleznov, director of leasing for Larson Baker, who leased the property to Natural Grocers.
“With the onslaught of health-food marketing campaigns, there’s more awareness to healthy food and supplements,” Seleznov said. “I think that many Tucsonans are willing to spend more money for food because they believe the natural foods are beneficial to health and wellness.”
The introduction of Natural Grocers marks the second new natural-foods grocery chain to enter the Tucson market since December, when Haggen — a Pacific Northwest-based grocer — announced its acquisition of one Albertsons and two Safeway stores here.
“The category (of markets) is called ‘fresh format,’ and it’s probably the most exciting and fastest-growing format for retail food stores,” said Lempert, of Supermarketguru.com. “If you take a look at the past 10 years, conventional supermarkets have lost 50 percent of market share to other retailers, so clearly that model is broken.”
Shoppers are looking for smaller stores with more fresh and sustainable foods, Lempert said. Stores such as Natural Grocers and Sprouts have responded by taking the Whole Foods model and making it a little smaller and a little more affordable, he added.
“This is a trend we’re seeing throughout the entire country,” Lempert said. “I think we’re seeing a return back to smaller operations because it’s hard running a supermarket chain that has three to 5,000 stores and isn’t customized to the locale and customer base in the area.
“In Tucson, what you’re going to see is stores really focused on what the population in that area wants,” he said.
