Sprouts Farmers Market Puts Down Roots in New York

New York’s grocery store competition is budding again as a West Coast rival expands to the Empire State for the first time.

Phoenix-based Sprouts Farmers Market is leasing 24,000 square feet at 1934 Middle Country Road in Centereach, Long Island, Newsday reported. The grocer will be taking slightly more than half the space vacated by L.A. Fitness when the gym closed its doors last month.

Details of the lease at the Basser-Kaufman-managed property were not disclosed. The deal represents Sprouts’ first location, both on Long Island and in New York.

The popular natural and organic food grocer is expected to open in Centereach next year. Previously, the property housed a Waldbaum’s supermarket up until 2010, which was replaced two years later by L.A. Fitness.

This is a significant East Coast expansion for Sprouts, a specialty retailer that’s been growing rapidly in recent years. Last year alone, the company opened 33 stores across the country, pushing its location count to 440 stores in 24 states.

The growth is expected to continue this year, as Sprouts disclosed in a recent earnings report that it plans to open 35 more locations in 2025 as it caters to high-income consumers seeking lifestyle-friendly products. The company recently leased 23,000 square feet for a store in Coconut Creek, Florida, as part of a seven-store expansion planned for the year.

The West Coast remains Sprouts’ biggest market; the grocer has nearly 150 locations in California and about 50 in Arizona.

New York grocers also remain on the lookout for another West Coast-based competitor. High-end California grocery chain Erewhon has long been rumored as a possibility to decamp in New York City, though nothing’s ever come of it.

— Holden Walter-Warner