Sprouts Farmers Market opening 1st Long Island store Friday, 2 more planned

Sprouts Farmers Market will make its entrance into New York State on Friday when its store opens in Centereach, and the grocer already has its sights set on two more Long Island locations.

Establishing a presence in the state is part of the fresh, natural and organic products retailer's plan to enter markets in the Northeast and Midwest.

"New York will be our 25th state on Friday. ... This New York-New Jersey [market] is going to be a brand new district for us. And, so, we're continuing to grow across the East Coast, up to the Northeast," Sprouts spokesman Mychael Ramirez said during a media tour of the Centereach store Wednesday.

The Phoenix-based specialty grocer has signed leases to open two more Long Island stores in 2027.

One will open in Smithtown, at 126 East Main St., Ramirez said. That 20,214-square-foot space is in Branch Plaza, which was vacated last summer by another specialty grocer, The Fresh Market.

Sprouts also plans to open a Long Island store in Levittown in 2027, which Newsday reported in December. That store will occupy a 25,593-square-foot space at 2981-2991 Hempstead Tpke. in the Levittown Shopping Center.

Also, a Sprouts store will open in Hartsdale, in Westchester County, in September this year.

'Geared towards the health enthusiasts'

Sprouts' Centereach store occupies a 24,000-square-foot space at 1934 Middle Country Rd. It's a portion of the space vacated by an L.A. Fitness a year ago.

The retailer is hiring 92 people for the store.

The vast majority of products in Sprouts' full-service grocery stores are not mainstream brands.

"Our main driving ethos is we want to help people live and eat better. ... We're geared towards the health enthusiasts and ... helping folks consume and enjoy better things that can help them live and be better," Ramirez said.

The stores' layouts differ from those of mainstream grocery stores in several ways, including the meat selections being placed toward the front rather than the back, and the large produce section occupying the middle of the store, instead of the side.

The produce location and design of the bins holding the fruits and vegetables are a nod to Sprouts' start as a fruit stand in San Diego in 1943, Ramirez said.

Sprouts stores are also smaller than traditional supermarkets.

A newly constructed Sprouts is typically about 23,000 square feet, while an existing building converted to a Sprouts store usually ranges from 20,000 to 30,000 square feet, Dan Croce, senior vice president of real estate at Sprouts, told Newsday in an email in September.

The average supermarket in 2024 was 42,453 square feet in size, according to the latest data from FMI, an Arlington, Virginia-based trade group that represents food retailers and producers.

Sprouts' first grocery store opened in Chandler, Arizona, in 2002.

Now one of the fastest-growing grocers in the nation, Sprouts has about 460 stores in 24 states, and more than 30 of those stores opened last year.

A greater number of stores will open this year, chief financial officer Curtis Valentine told analysts during a third-quarter earnings call Oct. 29.

Sprouts' target demographic is higher-income shoppers who are “less susceptible to economic downturn,” according to investor information on the grocer's website. But while Sprouts' third-quarter earnings were solid, its gross revenue was lower than expected because of a “softening consumer backdrop,” Valentine told analysts.

Sprouts’ net sales in the third quarter, which ended Sept. 28, were $2.2 billion, a 13% increase from $1.9 billion in the same period last year. The growth was driven by a 5.9% increase in sales at stores open at least one year.