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Everything emanates from there, explains Carlos Rojas, vice president – legal, risk and sustainability. [See Q&A with Rojas, the man at the helm of Sprouts sustainability initiatives, page 12]
Flipping the conventional grocery model to generate a transformational phenom- enon, the center of each Sprouts store is the produce department. A collective energy of vibrant, well-laid-out displays and friendly, active associates radiates outward from the produce center and pulls shoppers toward it. From the moment they walk through any of the stores’ entrances, shoppers see the movement of produce staff members unloading boxes of fruits and vegetables at multiple stations throughout the day.
At recent tours of Sprouts’ newest Eastern stores — Ellicott City, MD, marked Sprouts first entrée into the Mid-Atlantic, and Charlotte, NC, its third store in the state — well-versed employees (some appro- priately wearing “Every Day I’m Brusselin” T-shirts) scurry around the colorful fresh expanse, actively engaging and educating inquisitive customers. The welcoming open layout with high ceilings and low sightlines — void of visually impairing, traditional numbered grocery aisles — is by design to facilitate customer interaction.
Guests easily find receptive team members, who prioritize each guest’s needs amid restocking shelves, tweaking displays, and also training and supporting each other. Team members knowledge- ably answer questions, temporarily stop- ping their stocking duties and walk with customers to help them find what they’re looking for, rather than dismissively sending them to “Aisle 5.”
Without grocery aisles blocking the center view — and mainly consigned to the left side of the store, also with lower profiles, hence no out-of-reach shelves like at traditional supermarkets —Produce, with its visual appeal, is the biggest traf- fic-driver, representing approximately 25
2-SPROUTS / MAY 2018 / PRODUCE BUSINESS
“With our focus on fresh right in the center, it really encourages team-member engagement and accessibility to guests.”
— Diego Romero, Sprouts corporate communications manager
percent of Sprouts’ total store sales and around 15 percent of each store’s 28,000 square-foot, physical floor space. However, its dominant, central presence and signa- ture importance to Sprouts’ identity and mission resonates throughout the store.
“Our stores are relatively small, and right in the heart of our store is produce, which sets the stage for the Sprouts concept,” says Diego Romero, corpo- rate communications manager. “With our focus on fresh right in the center, it really encourages team-member engagement and accessibility to guests.”
In fact, shoppers can view the entire produce department and other perish- able areas, including a fresh juice blends station, salad bar and produce-laden market corner deli (as well as sustainably sourced seafood and meat departments), almost anywhere they stand.
The store carries more than 2,400 Sprouts Brand products that must meet strict ingredient requirements, while main- taining exceptional taste (down to the BRIX levels) and value standards, according to Kalia Pang, senior public relations specialist, noting more than 500 Sprouts Brand products are USDA-certified organic, and 70 percent are non-GMO certified.
At the Charlotte grand opening, team members in front of customers were briskly filling clear Sprouts-branded bags with fresh green beans to stock colorful displays. “Bagging produce like this in the produce department creates excite-
ment,” says Pang. However, pre-packaged Sprouts Brand products, such as bagged salads, grape tomatoes and pre-cut organic butternut squash, pervade across the department, in addition to freshly juiced and bottled health drinks and other in-store prepared fresh-cut options lining shelves. Whether an item comes with a Sprouts Brand label or not, the Sprouts banner is becoming synonymous with health and wellness characteristics, according to Sanders.
Even the “flipped” peripheral areas continue counter-traditional supermarket themes and speak to the Sprouts healthy lifestyle reputation, whether it’s the section devoted to vitamin and nutritional supple- ments (team members are equipped to help customers understand which drugs they’re taking may counteract or impact the efficacy of certain vitamins), or the mindfully selected natural and organic dairy and frozen food products.
True to its farmers market insignia and personality, the produce department is encircled by eye-catching and prominent signage, depicting words such as organic, as well as farm fresh, all complemented by catchy slogans throughout the store, rein- forcing its messaging.
AFFORDABILITY AND APPROACHABILITY
A founding tenet of the chain’s mission also flips another retail enigma; the stigma that eating well comes with a high price tag and highbrow mentality. Seeing a gap in the market, Sprouts set out to make healthy, quality food affordable and approachable to the mainstream, and within reach for the everyday consumer. According to Sanders produce prices at Sprouts are on average 20-25 percent below supermarket prices.
“We want to be inclusive, not exclu- sive,” says Sanders, wherever one may be in the spectrum, from delighting a diehard


































































































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