By Kathleen Dayton
Staff Writer

Earth Fare plans to close its Mount Pleasant supermarket on Jan. 27 after just three years of operation in Towne Centre.

Troy Degroff, director of sales and marketing for the Asheville, N.C.-based natural food chain, said the Towne Centre location was too small and faced competition from larger groceries in the area.

“To do food right, you need 25,000 square feet,” Degroff said. “In Mount Pleasant, the store was only 15,000 square feet, so we never could meet what our customers expected in that location. The other thing is I think Mount Pleasant has more grocery stores per capita than any place in the country.”

The opening of Whole Foods Market, a much larger similar-concept store also located in Mount Pleasant, particularly impacted Earth Fare’s Mount Pleasant location. Earth Fare’s other Charleston location in South Windermere Shopping Center is thriving, Degroff said.

“Our West Ashley store didn’t miss a beat when Whole Foods opened,” he said.

Rebecca Gosnell, marketing director for Mount Pleasant Towne Centre, said Earth Fare may have been in a David-and-Goliath situation.

“The store was going gangbusters and then Whole Foods opened up and their business fell off immediately,” Gosnell said. “I think Earth Fare was fighting several things. They were fighting Whole Foods but they entered the Mount Pleasant market when other major stores like Publix and Bi-Lo and Harris Teeter had started to offer some of the organic components that they offered. It’s difficult to come in and try to be a niche store when your competitors have already picked up on those niche offers.”

Gosnell said Towne Centre’s new owner, Miller Capital, which bought the center in October, has plans to reconfigure parking spaces and add square footage to the shopping complex. The loss of Earth Fare opens up the kind of size many national retailers are looking for, she said.

“It’s kind of an opportunity for us to change the tenant mix over here,” Gosnell said.

Degroff said Earth Fare plans to open between four and six stores a year and has new stores opening soon in Augusta, Ga., and Charlotte, N.C. He said Earth Fare could look at other Charleston area locations in the future as the chain expands.

The Mount Pleasant store has about 30 full- and part-time employees, some of whom will be transferred to the West Ashley store, Degroff said. The chain has 13 stores throughout the Southeast.

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