- September 16, 2024
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It was still dark, but the public was lining up in front of the new Sprouts Farmers Market to take a look at the latest addition to Downtown Sarasota's options for grocery shopping.
The new store located at the intersection of Links Avenue and Fruitville Road held its ribbon cutting Sept. 6, with Mayor Liz Alpert in attendance, before inviting the public in to explore its health-conscious displays of foods and produce.
The store is found just beside the newly constructed Aster & Links apartment complex at the corner of Main Street and Links Avenue.
Previously, the closest locations had included one in Bradenton on 44th Avenue West and another across from Sarasota Square Mall on North Tamiami Trail.
"It's very steady here today, and I'm looking forward to seeing what the rest of this weekend brings with everybody off," said manager Steven Knott.
The grand opening continues on Sept. 7 and 8 with other special offerings.
Grand opening attendee Stephany Delgado said she likes "the prices and the food quality more than anything else," as well as "the display of the fresh fruits and produce."
"I love sprouts," she said. "It's actually just down from my house. I used to go to the Sprouts all the way by the mall, and now I can walk to this store."
The health-conscious supermarket chain, which now encompasses over 380 stores in the country, offers all standards like fresh meat and seafood, a deli, eggs, dairy products and frozen foods, baked items and craft beer and wine.
Knott notes many of the options include gluten-free, vegan and vegetarian products, paleo and keto diet, organic and other foods, and plant-based meat products.
According to its website, 90% of the store's more than 19,000 healthy products are natural or organic.
"We really like to focus on the healthy aspects of products for customers, and one of the things that we do look for is dietitian eats," Knott said.
The store sources many items, such as all of its citrus products, from farms in the state of Florida, while bringing others from areas outside the state, such as its peaches, which it sources from Georgia.
Knott said when it comes to individual items, the store exercises high standards for which ones it will accept related to factors like size, freshness and levels of pesticides.
The store also prides itself on customer service.
"We like to differentiate on our customer service for sure," Knott said, stating staff try to "make (customers) feel welcome and greet as much as we possibly can."
He said the store offers a simple layout and competitive pricing, noting it often features sales on foods and vitamins.
He said customers will also often have the chance to enjoy plenty of free samples.
"We really want to be on the sampling aspect with customers, to get them to try the things that we carry," he said.
Knott said he's looking forward to the public having the chance to explore the store, after the 30 days of preparation involved on the part of its staff.
"I am super stoked," he said. "The team that I have is going to be amazing, and I'm stoked for this general community area to be able to support them and everything here."
