After relaunch of specialty grocer Earth Fare, a Charlotte-area store is closing

Specialty grocer Earth Fare is closing one of its Charlotte-area stores less than two years after it opened.

Earth Fare at 261 Griffith St. in Davidson will close before the end of the month, company spokeswoman Laurie Aker told The Charlotte Observer on Tuesday.

“Geographical challenges were the main contributing factor that led to the decision to close this location” she said.

The natural and organic grocer faces steep competition in Charlotte from a growing number of options, including top grocers by market share Walmart and hometown chain Harris Teeter, based in Matthews.

Earth Fare Davidson has 12 employees. They all have been offered the opportunity to relocate to one of the other Charlotte-area stores, Aker said.

About Earth Fare

The Asheville-based company began reopening area stores after Hulsing Enterprises purchased the brand in March 2020. Earth Fare filed for bankruptcy in February 2020, closing its 55 stores in 10 states. At that time there were seven stores in the Charlotte area.

That same year, Earth Fare began reopening five stores at SouthPark, Ballantyne, Concord, Fort Mill, S.C., and Rock Hill. The Steele Creek and Huntersville stores did not reopen.

In June 2021, Earth Fare opened its sixth store in the Charlotte market — the roughly 18,000-square-foot Davidson store at 261 Griffith St. It was an up-fit in the former Healthy Home Market site.

Just three months later, the SouthPark store on Governor Morrison Street closed less than a year later in September 2021.

No other closings are planned for the Charlotte area, Aker said.

Earth Fare has 22 stores in eight states, with half in the Carolinas including Davidson, according to the company website. Other stores are in Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia. Earth Fare has 1,026 employees companywide.

Other supermarket moves around Charlotte

Earth Fare Davidson isn’t the only grocer to close recently. Online-only grocer Farmstead pulled out of North Carolina in August after its East Coast debut in west Charlotte in November 2020 during the pandemic.

But several other supermarkets are expanding in the area:

▪ International grocer Super G Mart will open its third and largest North Carolina store this fall at 10500 Centrum Parkway in Pineville, with a food hall, full-restaurant and retail. The store is facing hiring challenges, The Charlotte Observer previously reported. “We are still in need of around 20 more employees to be able to open the grocery store,” said Peter Han, Super G Mart’s vice president of business development told the Observer on Tuesday.

▪ Food Lion, based in Salisbury, also has been expanding, including opening a 46,000-square-foot store in June at 5939 Weddington Road, in a former Harris Teeter location. In January, Food Lion opened at 2201 West W. T. Harris Blvd., also in a former Harris Teeter location. And the chain also opened a store this month at 11745 Statesville Blvd. in Cleveland.

▪ Lidl, a low-cost German grocer, opened its 10th Charlotte-area store last month at 11200 Carmel Commons Boulevard in south Charlotte.

▪ Lowes Foods, based in Winston-Salem, opened its “first-of-its-kind” store in February with entertainment at 14021 Boren St. in Huntersville in a former Earth Fare. Lowes Foods will anchor Christenbury Village in Concord in a 52,000-square-foot space and is expected to open early next year.

▪ Publix has at least seven stores planned in the Charlotte market including: Clear Creek Crossings at Albemarle and Rocky River Church roads in Charlotte; The Colony at Sharon and Colony roads in SouthPark; Harris Farms Shopping Center at Coddle Creek Highway and Kistler Farm Road in Mooresville; North Creek Village at Sam Furr and Davidson Concord roads in Huntersville; 10 Tryon building at Tryon and Ninth streets in uptown; and Arboretum at Providence and Pineville-Matthews Roads.

This story was originally published November 16, 2022 at 5:50 AM with the headline "After relaunch of specialty grocer Earth Fare, a Charlotte-area store is closing."