Earth Fare opened its doors for the first time to St. Johns County residents last Wednesday, October 16. The health food store is the first location in the county and hosted an early morning ribbon cutting ceremony to commemorate the grand opening.
The event featured a check presentation to Landrum Middle School to fund the enhancement of their Buddy Garden, which teaches students about growing healthy food, and a $500 gift card to the first 300 customers. Commissioner James Johns of District 1 and Isabelle Renault, CEO/President of the St. Johns County Chamber of Commerce, attended the event.
Commissioner Johns noted that residents were polled on what they wanted to see in the area and the top choice was for an Earth Fare grocery store.
Frank Scorpiniti, president and CEO of Earth Fare, said the location was ideal for the chain’s customer base, noting the lack of health and organic food stores in the immediate area.
“We are driven by a food philosophy,” Scorpiniti said. “It's our pledge to our customers that nothing in our stores shall ever contain added hormones or artificial fats, trans fats or artificial sweeteners. You can shop in this store blindfolded, knowing that nothing you put in your cart has chemicals in it. Contrast that to some other ‘healthier leaning’ stores, you still have to read the labels.”
The 24,000 square-foot store is located in the Shoppes at St. Johns Parkway and features Earth Fare’s Heirloom Juice Bar, which serves juices, smoothies and fresh coffee. Shoppers are also offered a salad bar, hot foods bar, pizza station, sandwich counter and packaged meals-on-the-go. Additionally, the store offers Instacart home delivery services.
Along with the new location, Earth Fare also operates two other locations on the eastern coast of Northern Florida, in Jacksonville and Mandarin.
