If you haven’t heard already, Earth Fare is closing all of its stores, citing financial troubles. I was completely disheartened by this news! The company sent an email to its customers on Tuesday, writing “with a heavy heart” about the decision to close all the stores after 45 years.
We only have 3 healthy grocery stores in Chattanooga, Tennessee; two Earth Fare stores and one Whole Foods. We will now be down to one healthy grocery store in this region.* It is so disappointing that the southeast is unable to support more stores like these.
Unsafe and Toxic Ingredients
Earth Fare is a healthy and organic grocery store, one which does not sell foods that have a long list of unhealthy or potentially toxic ingredients in them. But here is their general food philosophy:
I created a free, downloadable pdf “List of unsafe, unhealthy and/or potentially toxic ingredients in food and products that you should avoid.” You can also view it here.
I was able to buy foods from the bulk bins in my own cloth bags and glass jars at Earth Fare in order to avoid buying plastic. I can do this at Whole Foods too, but again, Chattanooga is going from three stores down to only one that offers features like those.
I Will Miss Earth Fare
Earth Fare is personal for me and I will miss it. Earth Fare is where I shopped while on my journey of learning the value of healthy, natural foods and about the dangerous ingredients in our foods. When my son was born and was in the NICU for 2 weeks, there was an Earth Fare just down the road from the hospital and we ate many meals there during that difficult time. It was the grocery store where I bought organic ingredients to make homemade baby food. And it is still where I buy food to cook for our family.
I plan to shop at Whole Foods as they have a very similar food philosophy. However, they are more expensive than Earth Fare for many things. Also, the Whole Foods in Chattanooga is in a popular area of town so it’s often very busy and crowded, with an equally crowded parking lot.
In the end, life will go on. We have many large environmental and health issues to face! Please subscribe and we can learn together! Thanks for reading. And thanks, Earth Fare, I’m sad to see you go.