Natural Grocers makes Amarillo, Texas, store bigger

Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, Inc. is going big and small in Texas.

The natural-and-organic retailer will relocate its Amarillo, Texas, store at 7400 SW 34th Ave. to a bigger footprint at 7441 Hillside Rd. with a grand re-opening celebration on June 8, the grocery retailer recently announced.

The ribbon-cutting and donation ceremony at the new location will begin at 8:20 a.m., followed by the doors opening to the public at 8:30 a.m. Gift card giveaways, discounts, prize sweepstakes and more will all be included in the re-opening day ceremonies.

"The Natural Grocers good4u Crew has been proud to serve the community of Amarillo since the original location opened in the fall of 2008. This was our second store in Texas, trailing Richardson, by only a few months. We're excited to give our customers more space to shop, which also means new product offerings throughout all departments," said Raquel Isely, VP of marketing for Natural Grocers, in a statement.

Despite the expansion of its new store in Amarillo, the Colorado-based grocery retailer is closing two stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth area on June 27 due to poor sales.

"We made the difficult decision to close two lower-performing stores, Fort Worth-North and Coppell," said Kemper Isely, co-president of Natural Grocers, in a statement. "We remain committed to serving the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and believe that our neighboring stores will continue to provide these communities the world-class customer service, quality and affordability for which Natural Grocers is known."

Earlier this month, during the company’s second quarter earnings, Natural Grocers reported a bump in traffic that drove a 2.7% increase in comparable-store sales for the natural-and-organic retailer, prompting the grocer to raise its guidance for the year.

“The strength of our sales trends indicate that we have a loyal and resilient customer base that prioritizes our healthy and sustainably focused offerings,” Isely said.

Founded in 1955, Natural Grocers now operates 166 stores in 21 states.