Sprouts Closing 11 Stores, to focus on "smaller concept."

[storewanderer]

Updated list:

Duluth, GA 28,600 square feet opened 2016.
Lynnwood, WA opened 2019 30,000 square feet.
Wellington, FL opened 2019 30,000 square feet.
West Hollywood, CA (mentioned above)
Houston, TX Westheimer/Kirkwood- opened 2013- 28,000 square feet
Houston, TX OST/Kirby - Opened 10/2020 (do I have the right store?) 26,000 square feet- looks like current prototype?
Sugar Land, TX- Opened 2019 30,000 square feet
Roseville, CA - East Roseville - opened 2011- 36,000 square feet

[veteran+]

Wow, the West Hollywood store is tiny in comparison to the others.

[ClownLoach]

Wow, the West Hollywood store is tiny in comparison to the others.

This has been a bizarrely misleading announcement. The CEO stated these were all stores that opened right before the pandemic in a larger new test format. That is not the case at all. Some of these are a decade old. West Hollywood is small. Many large format stores are still going and not closing.

This CEO had it in for larger stores and went out of his way to make this misleading statement that A) All large format is unprofitable, and B) they're closing all of them. Obviously neither is true. His agenda is to push Sprouts down to small format stores, but why make misleading statements that are easily taken apart?

[storewanderer]

Roseville at 36,000 square feet and I can definitely attest that store had little traffic and recent changes to Sprouts (higher prices/weaker ads) probably killed foot traffic even more. Even when it was new and had moderate traffic the thing I noticed there is it seemed like every customer was buying the value packs of Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts that were perpetually on sale for 1.88/lb and bagfulls of sale priced produce. I would watch customers wheel out 3-4 bags and their total was under $30. I'd walk center store (back then Sprouts center store mix was quite a bit smaller than it is now and they had few to no private label items) and it was moving almost no product.

Other excuse I'm hearing for Sprouts Roseville closure is the Sprouts up the road in Lincoln (about 10 minutes) is too close. Too close...? Completely different trade areas...

I also forget how many stores they closed in 2021-2022. I know they closed a couple of bay area stores and also the lone store in Wichita.

I have to think as some stores come up for 10 year lease renewals that it may not make sense to continue.

Also do all Sprouts have self checkout now? The ones in Reno/Sparks have never gotten self checkout for some reason but it seems almost every Sprouts I go into out of town has it.

[veteran+]

I have seen no self checks in my area.

[mjhale]

I went to the single Sprouts location in Northern Virginia last week. No self-checkout. No customers either. This was on a Friday evening when folks might be getting something on the way home or going out to get something to make for dinner. The Sprouts was carved out of a Kmart that closed. One third is Sprouts, one third is a gym and the last third are some small shops. There is also a Lotte and a MOM's Organic Market in the center as well. Sprouts was stocked with plenty of merchandise out. Pricing in produce and meats was okay and not outrageous. They didn't have what I was looking for so no purchase made. If Sprouts is this devoid of customers on a regular basis, I'm not sure how they will make it. Oh and the Lotte is one of the deadest locations of theirs I've been in. Usually Lotte is packed. And wow, Lotte has gone up on produce pricing (usually what I get there) - $2.99 for a stalk of celery, $2.99 for a 1 pound bag of radishes, $2.49 for a 1 pound bag of carrots, $3.19 a pound for Gala Apples. This is Safeway level pricing at a store that generally has much lower produce prices which I always amounted to the volume they seem to do at most of their stores.

[arizonaguy]

I went to the single Sprouts location in Northern Virginia last week. No self-checkout. No customers either. This was on a Friday evening when folks might be getting something on the way home or going out to get something to make for dinner. The Sprouts was carved out of a Kmart that closed. One third is Sprouts, one third is a gym and the last third are some small shops. There is also a Lotte and a MOM's Organic Market in the center as well. Sprouts was stocked with plenty of merchandise out. Pricing in produce and meats was okay and not outrageous. They didn't have what I was looking for so no purchase made. If Sprouts is this devoid of customers on a regular basis, I'm not sure how they will make it. Oh and the Lotte is one of the deadest locations of theirs I've been in. Usually Lotte is packed. And wow, Lotte has gone up on produce pricing (usually what I get there) - $2.99 for a stalk of celery, $2.99 for a 1 pound bag of radishes, $2.49 for a 1 pound bag of carrots, $3.19 a pound for Gala Apples. This is Safeway level pricing at a store that generally has much lower produce prices which I always amounted to the volume they seem to do at most of their stores.

It seems like there are at least 4 supermarkets in that plaza (plus a Safeway across the street). It's the total opposite of a food desert.

There's the Sprouts, Lotte, MOM's Organic Market and a Madina Market Grocery & Bakery.

In addition to the Safeway across the street there is also a Bestway Supermarket (Hispanic focused in a former A&P) in the next shopping center about a block or two away.

[storewanderer]

Updated list:

Duluth, GA 28,600 square feet opened 2016.
Lynnwood, WA opened 2019 30,000 square feet.
Wellington, FL opened 2019 30,000 square feet.
West Hollywood, CA (mentioned above)
Houston, TX Westheimer/Kirkwood- opened 2013- 28,000 square feet
Houston, TX OST/Kirby - Opened 10/2020 (do I have the right store?) 26,000 square feet- looks like current prototype?
Sugar Land, TX- Opened 2019 30,000 square feet
Roseville, CA - East Roseville - opened 2011- 36,000 square feet
Cupertino, CA - Opened 2014- 21,000 square feet
Sandy Springs, GA - Opened 2015 - 30,000 square feet

[ClownLoach]

Updated list:

Duluth, GA 28,600 square feet opened 2016.
Lynnwood, WA opened 2019 30,000 square feet.
Wellington, FL opened 2019 30,000 square feet.
West Hollywood, CA (mentioned above)
Houston, TX Westheimer/Kirkwood- opened 2013- 28,000 square feet
Houston, TX OST/Kirby - Opened 10/2020 (do I have the right store?) 26,000 square feet- looks like current prototype?
Sugar Land, TX- Opened 2019 30,000 square feet
Roseville, CA - East Roseville - opened 2011- 36,000 square feet
Cupertino, CA - Opened 2014- 21,000 square feet
Sandy Springs, GA - Opened 2015 - 30,000 square feet

So the Lake Forest store, which is just over 30,000 Sq ft and the same format that is allegedly cash flow negative in all locations according to the CEO, is staying open. Obviously he is misleading the public and his organization. There must be a faction within their corporate offices that likes the larger format stores and he doesn't. Their new smaller format and oddball prototypes are not interesting to me at all, they reduce the selection of Fresh items and perimeter to nothing leaving no reason to shop there.

[veteran+]

Updated list:

Duluth, GA 28,600 square feet opened 2016.
Lynnwood, WA opened 2019 30,000 square feet.
Wellington, FL opened 2019 30,000 square feet.
West Hollywood, CA (mentioned above)
Houston, TX Westheimer/Kirkwood- opened 2013- 28,000 square feet
Houston, TX OST/Kirby - Opened 10/2020 (do I have the right store?) 26,000 square feet- looks like current prototype?
Sugar Land, TX- Opened 2019 30,000 square feet
Roseville, CA - East Roseville - opened 2011- 36,000 square feet
Cupertino, CA - Opened 2014- 21,000 square feet
Sandy Springs, GA - Opened 2015 - 30,000 square feet

So the Lake Forest store, which is just over 30,000 Sq ft and the same format that is allegedly cash flow negative in all locations according to the CEO, is staying open. Obviously he is misleading the public and his organization. There must be a faction within their corporate offices that likes the larger format stores and he doesn't. Their new smaller format and oddball prototypes are not interesting to me at all, they reduce the selection of Fresh items and perimeter to nothing leaving no reason to shop there.

Yeah.........................and keeping the large size of the useless supplements department..............so stupid!