Good Earth closes on Main Street

LAKEWOOD RANCH — Change again is coming for the anchor space at Lakewood Ranch Main Street. Good Earth Natural Foods, which opened its 12,000-square-foot space in September 2009, closed April 30.
The Good Earth company has been acquired by Richard’s Foodporium, formerly Richard’s Whole Foods, another organic and specialty grocer.

“While we love the Main Street location, Richard’s has another already established store very close by,” Richard’s Foodporium owner John Rorer said.

Remaining Good Earth locations — 6717 Manatee Ave. W., Bradenton, and 3110 53rd Ave. E. — will remain open but will be remodeled, computerized and restocked under the Richard’s umbrella, said Good Earth owner Mark Egan, who will oversee Richard’s Manatee County operations.

Egan said sales at the Lakewood Ranch Good Earth were strong — more than $1 million in two years — but not enough to make the business sustainable for such a large space.

“Both Good Earth and Richard’s have been in the same town doing the same thing for the same people for years,” Egan said. “It makes sense to join forces.”

The space on Main Street will be reconfigured to accommodate three to five businesses that will be more similar in size to other Main Street units, Lakewood Ranch Commercial Realty President Brian Kennelly said.

“We realize now we need to seize the opportunity and reconfigure the space and make that space leasable,” he said.

Two spaces already have been reserved — one for a casual dining restaurant and another for a multi-use sports performance training center that will serve as an extension of Lakewood Ranch’s Premier Sports Campus. The athletic facility also will offer regular gym memberships to the public in addition to providing workout and training opportunities to athletes.

Both businesses will take access from Lakewood Main Street, leaving space across from the Polo Grill and Bar and fronting Lakewood Ranch Boulevard available for other tenants, Kennelly said. Construction for both businesses is expected to start in July with openings slated for November.

Kennelly said aside from units created from the Good Earth closure, there are only two vacancies remaining in the Lakewood Ranch Main Street shopping center. A letter of intent from a restaurant has been issued for a third vacant unit adjacent to Lakewood Ranch Cinemas.

Contact Pam Eubanks at [email protected].