Organic grocery store chain Earth Fare has announced plans to close all of its stores, including locations in Cumming and Athens in North Georgia.
The company issued a press release announcing a decision to being immediate liquidation of all inventory and store fixtures.
"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 statement read.
All employees of the company were alerted to the closing prior to the publicly announced closing on Monday, Feb. 3.
The Asheville, North Carolina company opened its doors in 1975, but in recent years had trouble competing in the changing grocery store marketplace. The statement said company officials had tried a number of growth and expansion strategies.
"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 goforward basis," the statement read.
The Cumming store is located at 3140 Ronald Reagan Blvd. and the Athens store is located at 1689 South Lumpkin Street.
