NATURAL EXPANSION
Earth Fare continues growth into Ohio with new grocery in Fairview Park

By Lou Kren

A natural-foods grocer founded in 1975, Asheville, North Carolina-based Earth Fare has made a big splash in Ohio with three recent store openings. Joining Earth Fare’s Fairlawn and Centerville locations (with a Columbus store coming soon) is a greenfield store at Westgate in Fairview Park. The Westgate store, the 25th from the second-largest natural-foods retailer in the country, opened on December 7, promising customers a wide variety of local, organic and healthy foods.

The new 27,242-square-foot Earth Fare comes courtesy of the efforts of architect MCG Architecture, of Cleveland, and general contractor Infinity Construction Inc., of Warrensville Heights. The store, with 110 employees, was built for Westgate managing partners Centro Properties Group, Richard E. Jacobs Group and Transwestern Investment Co., with Earth Fare then leasing the building.

Ohio locations make sense
“Ohio has a fantastic, educated community, and the state is on the rebound,” says Jack Murphy, Earth Fare’s chief executive officer, explaining the decision of the retailer, which had previously located only in Southeastern states, to expand in Buckeye country. “In fact, the Midwest is underserved in the natural-foods market. We are very sophisticated in where we decide to locate, and this location, in Westgate, is very much in the middle of a concentrated retail area.”

Westgate Earth Fare offers fresh local and organic fruits and vegetables; full-service antibiotic- and hormone-free meat, poultry and seafood departments; a cheese department; an onsite bakery; and body and supplement department. The store also provides ready-to-go meal options from the grill, hot bar and prepared-food case.

Unlike other grocery stores, according to company officials, Earth Fare adheres to a strict food philosophy that prohibits items with high-fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils (trans-fats), artificial preservatives, sweeteners, flavors or fragrances. In addition, it bans all fresh meats and dairy containing antibiotics and/or synthetic growth hormones. As Murphy says, “We read the label so you don’t have to.”

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