Earth Fare closing another Charlotte grocery store, citing challenging competition

Specialty grocer Earth Fare is closing its only remaining Charlotte store, citing the region’s intense grocery store competition as one of the factors.

The Asheville-based specialty grocer at 12235 N. Community House Road in Ballantyne will close by Jan. 31, Earth Fare spokeswoman Laurie Akers confirmed Wednesday. The store has started 20% off sales.

“The company is healthy and strong,” Akers said. “(It’s) just we face some challenges and competition within the area that we just really were not able to overcome.”

The grocer anchors Torringdon Market shopping center, off Johnson Road near Interstate 485 in south Charlotte.

The natural and organic grocer faces steep competition in Charlotte from a growing number of options, including top grocers by market share Walmart and Matthews-based Harris Teeter.

Within just a few miles from Earth Fare are several other stores, including Publix, Trader Joe’s, The Fresh Market, Sprouts Farmers Market and Harris Teeter. Rochester-based Wegmans also will make its Charlotte debut in 2026, just 1 mile away from Earth Fare on the same road.

However, Aker said the decision to close was not related to Wegmans’ plan but to the existing competition.

The Ballantyne store’s 30 or so employees may apply for positions at Earth Fare’s other three Charlotte-area stores in Concord, Fort Mill and Rock Hill, Akers said.

The Ballantyne store is the third to close in the Charlotte region after Earth Fare began reopening stores following bankruptcy nearly five years ago.

Earth Fare’s comeback

Earth Fare filed for bankruptcy in 2020, closing its 55 stores in 10 states. At that time, there were seven Charlotte-area stores.

Hulsing Enterprises purchased the Earth Fare brand in spring 2020 and a year later, began reopening stores. Six stores reopened in the Charlotte region in Ballantyne, Concord, Davidson, SouthPark, Fort Mill and Rock Hill.

Two locations that did not reopen are 14126 Steele Creek Road in Steele Creek, now a Sprouts Farmers Market, and 14021 Boren St. in Huntersville, now a Lowes Foods.

The SouthPark store on Governor Morrison Street closed again in September 2021, followed a year later by the Davidson store at 261 Griffith St.

In 2022, Earth Fare had 22 stores in eight states. It now has 18 stores in seven states, according to the company’s website. Other stores are in Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia.

Earth Fare at Ballantyne originally opened in 2007.

“The landscape is certainly different from when we first opened,” Akers said. “So that location, unfortunately, just didn’t work for us.”

Heated grocery store competition

There are over 745 grocery stores in the Charlotte region, up from 722 in 2020, all competing for a piece of the $10.2 billion market share, according to last year’s report by sales tracking firm Chain Store Guide.

And more stores are opening are opening the Charlotte area, including:

▪ Last month, Publix Super Market said it will open a store in Wesley Chapel in Union County. A time for the opening has not yet been set.

The Lakeland, Florida-based chain has five more Publix stores planned in Charlotte: at 11525 Carmel Commons, which is expected to open this year; The Arboretum store at Providence and Pineville-Matthews roads has construction underway; 10 Tryon building on the northwest corner of Tryon and Ninth streets in uptown; Clear Creek Crossings development on the corner of Albemarle and Rocky River Church roads; and at the corner of Sharon and Colony roads in SouthPark.

▪ Sprouts Farmers Market will open a 21,000-square-foot store in the summer at the One NoDa Park development on the corner of 36th and Tryon streets in Charlotte. It will be the third location for the Phoenix-based grocer, which opened a store in Steele Creek in fall 2023 and also has a store in Ballantyne.

▪ The West Boulevard Coalition is opening Charlotte’s first cooperative grocery store, Three Sisters Market. The full-service grocery store will debut in an area that has been without a traditional supermarket for over 30 years.

▪ In July, Matthews Board of Commissioners approved changes to a grocery store plan with illustration signage similar to Trader Joe’s in a 13,5000-square-foot building at Matthews Gateway on East John Street.

▪ In May, Mecklenburg County commissioners OK’d $1.5 million for California-based grocer Spangler’s to build an 8,000-square-foot store at Kohler and Statesville avenues, north of uptown.

▪ In 2026, Rochester, N.Y.-based Wegmans will make its Charlotte debut with a 110,000-square-foot grocery store on the east side of Ballantyne in south Charlotte.