Franchised Sprouts locations

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storewanderer
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Franchised Sprouts locations

Post by storewanderer »

Anyone else seen any of these franchised Sprouts locations? It seems the Sprouts in Chula Vista are franchise Sprouts.

Hard to figure out what they are doing. Perimeter programs seem to be a lot more extensive with the franchise. Signs in the store appear to be the same paper, but generated via different systems. The cash registers look like Sprouts registers, but they don't accept Sprouts gift cards from the rest of the chain so they must not be on the same exact system. Sprouts brand is extensive in dry goods.

Their ad looks sort of like the regular Sprouts ad but it appears to be done by a different company as well.

It looks like when these were Henry's, these were also franchise. Did Henry's have other franchise stores?
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Re: Franchised Sprouts locations

Post by klkla »

Are you sure it is an actual franchise?

On their website under FAQ it says "Sprouts Farmers Market does not offer franchising opportunities. All of our stores are operated from our corporate headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona. "

Maybe this is a new program and they haven't updated their website yet.
http://investors.sprouts.com/FAQ
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Re: Franchised Sprouts locations

Post by rwsandiego »

Long ago there was a handful of Henry’s locations that did not participate in the same sales as most other locations. This was back when Henry’s only had locations in metro San Diego. It was probably before Wild Oats sold out to WFM and the Henry’s stores were under the same ownership as Smart and Final. I don’t remember which ones nor do I remember whether they were franchised or whether the Boney family still owned the locations.

It seems odd that Sprouts would franchise in an established market like San Diego.
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Re: Franchised Sprouts locations

Post by architect »

klkla wrote: December 28th, 2017, 3:59 pm Are you sure it is an actual franchise?

On their website under FAQ it says "Sprouts Farmers Market does not offer franchising opportunities. All of our stores are operated from our corporate headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona. "

Maybe this is a new program and they haven't updated their website yet.
http://investors.sprouts.com/FAQ
rwsandiego wrote: December 28th, 2017, 4:18 pm Long ago there was a handful of Henry’s locations that did not participate in the same sales as most other locations. This was back when Henry’s only had locations in metro San Diego. It was probably before Wild Oats sold out to WFM and the Henry’s stores were under the same ownership as Smart and Final. I don’t remember which ones nor do I remember whether they were franchised or whether the Boney family still owned the locations.

It seems odd that Sprouts would franchise in an established market like San Diego.
My guess is that these locations were franchised under Henry's, and for whatever reason, Sprouts has been unable to convince the franchise owner to sell the stores back to corporate. At the same time, it would be a terrible PR move for Sprouts to pull the rug out and terminate the franchise, as it would upset loyal shoppers and leave Sprouts scrambling for new store sites in these areas. Although Sprouts may still have franchised locations in their system, that does not necessarily mean that they are currently offering new franchises, as klkla said. Grocery chains are notoriously difficult to operate based on a franchise model, with widely varying product selection and store conditions both being of concern.
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Re: Franchised Sprouts locations

Post by rwsandiego »

All good points.

So...
The sprouts.com website lists two locations in Chula Vista. When you click on the “View Flyer” link sproutschulavista.com displays and it has a picture of a truck that says “Henry Boney, Proprietor.” The website itself says “Locally owned for 25 years.” My guess is these stores are not “franchised,” per se but are owned by the founding Boney family and use the name “Sprouts” . I recall there being a family dispute at some point and this could be a result of that dispute. Members of the Boney family actually formed Sprouts after Henry’s (well, Boney’s was sold and re-named Henry’s) was sold.

I’ll do some research using the local papers when i am home from vacation and am using my computer. The iPhone and iPad don’t lend themselves well to conducting research.
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Re: Franchised Sprouts locations

Post by storewanderer »

Doing more research, it appears there were once 3 Henry's in Chula Vista, all owned by a Ron Cohn.

At some point one of those converted to Otay Ranch Market also owned by Ron Cohn.

At some point later, that store closed.

Meanwhile somewhere the other 2 Henry's were converted to the Sprouts banner. These two stores remain owned by a Ron Cohn.

These two stores do not quite look like a typical Sprouts. They actually appear to have a larger product mix...
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Re: Franchised Sprouts locations

Post by rwsandiego »

It looks like Cohn has owned the stores since 1990 when he opened a Henry's in Chua Vista. No word on why he owned these two, however. I did find an entry in a food blog that attempts to lay out the convoluted story of the Boney family enterprises.
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Re: Franchised Sprouts locations

Post by pseudo3d »

Figures, though the oddities do happen. The IKEA store in Houston, Texas is a franchise separate from the rest of the U.S. stores due to the fact that it was built as a franchised STØR in the early 1990s but was kept as a franchised IKEA following the purchase of STØR by IKEA in 1992. Another famous example is 7-Eleven Oklahoma, which was founded in the early 1950s under a franchise agreement of some sort that allowed 7-Eleven Oklahoma to keep the 7-Eleven name, do things with it that the "real" 7-Eleven would never do (like open large modern stores), keep 7-Eleven out from Oklahoma (with their own name, at least), and have all this be permanent. (Someone at the Texas end must have really regretted signing that contract)
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Re: Franchised Sprouts locations

Post by storewanderer »

rwsandiego wrote: December 28th, 2017, 10:57 pm It looks like Cohn has owned the stores since 1990 when he opened a Henry's in Chua Vista. No word on why he owned these two, however. I did find an entry in a food blog that attempts to lay out the convoluted story of the Boney family enterprises.
After Boney sold out to Wild Oats, there were some former Wild Oats in NorCal that became Boney Stores. They also operated under the name Picadilly Circus in an effort to reinvent themselves. It did not last long. Wild Oats basically exited NorCal and transferred the stores to Boney. Operations were a disaster and the stores were not open long. They had one store in Sacramento and a few others in the bay area. Really poor operations. Anyone who failed with a natural/organic concept in NorCal in the early 00's really was missing the mark.
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Re: Franchised Sprouts locations

Post by rwsandiego »

storewanderer wrote: December 29th, 2017, 8:12 am
rwsandiego wrote: December 28th, 2017, 10:57 pm It looks like Cohn has owned the stores since 1990 when he opened a Henry's in Chua Vista. No word on why he owned these two, however. I did find an entry in a food blog that attempts to lay out the convoluted story of the Boney family enterprises.
After Boney sold out to Wild Oats, there were some former Wild Oats in NorCal that became Boney Stores. They also operated under the name Picadilly Circus in an effort to reinvent themselves. It did not last long. Wild Oats basically exited NorCal and transferred the stores to Boney. Operations were a disaster and the stores were not open long. They had one store in Sacramento and a few others in the bay area. Really poor operations. Anyone who failed with a natural/organic concept in NorCal in the early 00's really was missing the mark.
Wow - that is bad!

Although the selection at Henry's suffered upon conversion to Sprouts, store operations and cleanliness improved dramatically. Henry's used to have this odor to their stores that was a cross between rotting cheese and rotting produce. That and the fruit flies. Their produce would also spoil more quickly than produce bought at other stores. I can remember buying strawberries and they were moldy the next day.
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