Health-Conscious Grocer To Close Only Store In DC Area: Report

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — Earth Fare, an organic supermarket chain, will close its store in Fairfax City, its only location in the Washington, DC, region, the Washington Business Journal reported Wednesday. The closure, scheduled for Jan. 11, comes only two years after Earth Fare opened the location. Between now and its last day, the store, located at 11052 Lee Highway near the intersection of Route 29 and Route 50, will sell its merchandise at a 20-percent discount, according to the report.

The North Carolina-based chain opened the Fairfax store a few months after it had opened its first Virginia store in Roanoke in 2017. The chain has about 55 locations in 10 states nationwide, although Earth Fare also said this week it plans to close its Indianapolis-area stores in Carmel, Noblesville and Greenwood on Jan. 11, the Indianapolis Star reported Wednesday.

While the company plans to close the Fairfax store and the three in the Indianapolis area, Earth Fare told the Jacksonville Business Journal, a sister paper to the Washington Business Journal, that it has 100 new stores that it is hoping to open..

The announcement comes less than a month after Shoppers, a grocery store chain with 43 stores in Virginia, DC and Maryland, said it would be closing several stores in early 2020. Parent company United Natural Foods, Inc. announced four upcoming closures, as well as the sale of 13 stores to other grocery operators. Two Shoppers stores in Virginia are targeted for closure: its Potomac Yard Shopping Center location in Alexandria and its Bull Run Plaza location in Manassas.

Earth Fare's slogan is "Live Longer with Earth Fare." It claims to have the broadest assortment of fresh, organic and local produce in the industry. It has more than 175 natural and organic bulk foods. Its meat comes from "humanely raised" livestock never given antibiotics or added hormones. It offers "sustainable and traceable" seafood, and also has an in-store cafe. Earth Fare also has an extensive list of things it doesn't include, which it calls a "Boot List."

At the time of the store's opening in Fairfax, Earth Fare said it planned to open between five and seven other stores in the DC area over the following two years, the Washington Business Journal said. None of those stores opened. The Earth Fare in Fairfax is located across the street from an ALDI store that opened in 2014 and less than two miles from a Wegmans grocery store, the report noted.