PORTAGE, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — Organic grocery store Earth Fare has announced a nationwide closure and liquidation sale of its locations.
The company, which is based in North Carolina, made the announcement in a press release on Tuesday, February 3rd.
“Earth Fare has been proud to serve the natural and organic grocery market, and the decision to begin the process of closing our stores was not entered into lightly. We’d like to thank our Team Members for their commitment and dedication to serving our customers, and our vendors and suppliers for their partnership,” the company stated.
The only Michigan location of Earth Fare is in Portage, which sits at 5070 S. Westnedge Ave.
There is currently no date for the closure of all stores, but the company expects that sales will continue through February while the liquidation sale is underway.
Despite the fact that Earth Fare has implemented various strategies into its business to earn more revenue, the company says that they were ultimately not enough.
“While many of these initiatives improved the business, continued challenges in the retail industry impeded the company’s progress as well as its ability to refinance its debt. As a result, Earth Fare is not in a financial position to continue to operate on a go forward basis. As such, we have made the difficult, but necessary decision to commence inventory liquidation sales while we continue to engage in a process to find potential suitors for our stores,” the company stated.
The Portage location will remain open for the time being while inventory is liquidated at reduced prices. The company will also be selling store fixtures in the liquidation process.
The organic grocery store chain was originally founded in 1975.
