Earth Fare is back in St. Johns County as they continued their comeback story following a tumultuous couple of years with a ribbon cutting ceremony for its new location at 120 Shops Blvd. in St. Johns.
The height of the tough times included Earth Fare filing for bankruptcy in February 2020 and having to close many of its locations, which included the one in St. Johns County that had only been open for six months.
“A group of local Earth Fare advocates got together along with one of our original founders and said, ‘this company’s roots are too deep and strong to just completely go away,’” said Laurie Aker, Earth Fare community relations coordinator and spokesperson.
According to Aker, the re-invigorated Earth Fare had only planned to open eight locations, but support has led them to go well beyond the initial goal and the St. Johns location makes it 23 stores.
“As a business owner myself, it’s always wonderful for me to see a success story like Earth Fare,” St. Johns County Commissioner Christian Whitehurst said. “2020 was difficult for everybody in different ways, but especially for small business owners.”
An example of the local support a was on display as roughly 300 people lined up around the shopping center complex waiting for the ribbon cutting ceremony to take place and the doors to be open.
“Some folks started lining up as early as 3 a.m.,” Aker said. “The community has been extremely excited, and we’ve had an overwhelming response.”
Earth Fare was established in 1975 and was the first natural food store in Asheville, North Carolina.
The company strives to make sure all the products sold are free of artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives. That includes meats and seafood not having hormones or antibiotics and the baked goods being free of bleached and bromated flour.
“This community deserves to have healthy options, so we knew we had to come back,” Aker said. “We like to say that we read the labels, so you (customers) don’t have to.”
