West Hills welcomes its first natural foods market
By Abigail Lewis
The West Valley is practically tap dancing with joy, as Sprouts Market opens a new market on Fallbrook Avenue just a few blocks from Ventura Boulevard. Opening day May 22 showed just how ready the neighborhood is for another alternative to Trader Joe’s, located in the same mall. The store was thronged and the parking lot was almost as busy as the 405 at rush hour.
WLT forged a path through very long lines of shoppers with full baskets to chat with Glade Campbell, senior director of operations. Campbell shared some of Sprouts’ genealogy—some readers may remember the market’s California roots with Boney’s or Henry’s, both of which sprang from the same family.
Now Phoenix-based, the privately owned company has been expanding steadily in California to its new total of 74 markets. Their goal is to keep a small footprint and a neighborhood feel, and that it has. Walk into the store and notice that you can see around the entire market; no towering displays obstruct sightlines, so you can see clear across the store. There are skylights and bright, warm lighting, and you’ll never struggle to find the produce section—it’s smack dab in the middle of everything, which gives you a sense of its importance in the Sprouts philosophy.
The store emphasis is not organic, though they do carry organic produce. But Sprouts is mostly focused on delivering “healthy living for less.” Campbell told me they shop from local farmers, buy beef raised without antibiotics and steroids, and generally offer clean food with no additives or preservatives.
Asked about GMOs the answer was less specific. “That would be hard for me to respond to,” said Campbell. “How that’s going to go would be difficult to say as an industry. Our primary goal is to stay true to our brand, which is natural products.”
“Natural,” as we educated consumers know, does not preclude GMO. But as far as their stand on labeling, Campbell assured me that, “Obviously, the more information for the consumer the better.”
So what’s the difference between Sprouts and their competitors? Campbell noted that Trader Joe’s is not as produce driven and offers “a tremendous amount” of private labels items. Whole Foods, he added, features more organic and has an extensive gourmet deli and kitchen on the premises. Plus which, “Our pricing is much more competitive,” said Campbell, including a “darn good sandwich for $3.99.”
In short, Sprouts is pretty confident there’s plenty of room for their vision in our educated, informed and health-hungry part of the world. Considering the new store is just two minutes from WLT’s home base, we gratefully agree.
6605 Fallbrook Ave., West Hills 91307, 818.867.2104. Open daily, 7am–10pm
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