Earth Fare opening delayed

If you were looking forward to buying for a hunk of cheese that’s been aged at least 10 years inside a cave in Switzerland, you’ll have to wait longer than expected.

In late 2007, Earth Fare Market and Cafe announced plans to build a new store in Auburn in the former Food World location in Flint’s Crossing shopping center on Opelika Road. The store was slated to open in September.

The company’s push to open two other new stores in the Southeast this summer, however, has put its plans for the Auburn store on hold, according to Earth Fare Director of Sales and Marketing Troy DeGroff.
“We’re working on our Rock Hill (S.C.) store and our Johnson City (Tenn.) store,” DeGroff said. “We want to get that right. ... We’re still small, and our resources are stretched.”

Regarding the Auburn location, DeGroff added, “We haven’t abandoned that, but we just want to be sure we give the people in Auburn the best experience they can have.”

The Asheville, N.C.-based company has not determined a new date for the opening of its Auburn store, DeGroff said.

Earth Fare promotes fair trade, sustainability and environmental responsibility through the items it sells, which include organic produce and dairy products, and meat and poultry with no antibiotics or growth hormones.

The supermarket chain, established in 1975, does not sell products that contain artificial colors, artificial ingredients, added trans fats or high-fructose corn syrup.

The Auburn store is expected to hire more than 100 people and offer a full-service meat counter, deli and cafe with a bakery, coffee bar, Indian hot bar, olive bar, sushi bar and a brick-fired pizza oven.

The store will also stock hundreds of internationally made products such as chocolates, wines and artisan cheeses.

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