Opening of Earth Fare store in Auburn delayed

The opening of an organic, natural foods supermarket in Auburn has been delayed, but plans for the store have not been ditched.

Earth Fare Market and Cafe had originally planned to open a new store in September at the former Food World location in Flint’s Crossing shopping center on Opelika Road.

But a push to open two other new stores this summer has put those plans 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.”

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 does not sell products that contain artificial colors, artificial ingredients, added trans fats or high fructose corn syrup.

The Auburn store is expected to have 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.