The Earth Fare on Battleground Ave. is shutting its doors for good on Sunday, Feb. 23.
On Friday evening, two days before the sad ending, shoppers were picking over the final products being sold at large discounts, as the once highly popular store let go of its last remaining merchandise. When the store shut down that night, there were only a few items left: things like obscure brands of coconut water, odd bottles of little-known supplements and other items that were expensive even at 60 percent off– such as the $49 bottles of Earth Fare-brand Kava.
It’s a sad end for the Battleground Ave. Earth Fare in Greensboro that appeared to be thriving for years and years, and it’s also a sad end for about 50 other Earth Fare locations where the stores have now either shut their doors or began prepping to do so.
On Monday, Feb. 3, Earth Fare’s corporate office announced out of the blue that all of its chain locations would be closing once the existing supply of merchandise was sold out.
On Friday night, the store closed early –8 p.m. – since there was no use to keep longer hours. There were no perishable items such as meats, fruits or vegetables left in the store and the produce section was full of empty boxes and empty shelves rather than organic grapes and colorful heads of fresh lettuce.
The store chain employed over 2,500 employees who are now either looking for work or who have already found it in the current bustling local economy with a record low unemployment rate.
In Guilford County, one of the more remarkable situations is that the brand new Earth Fare in High Point is also closing. That store, which just opened in 2019, was advertising heavily for new employees when the word came out of the corporate office in early February that the chain would be no more.
Some beneficiaries of the Battleground Earth Fare closure are the three other upscale health food stores just a short distance away from Earth Fare. The Fresh Market is one, while Trader Joe’s and Sprout’s are two others. Both of those stores opened late last year.
