Lexington is losing another grocery: Lucky's Market is closing in May after only two years, according to the company.
The store is expected to close by May 26 or when everything is sold.
"Basically the store has just not thrived like we’d hoped it would," said Krista Torvik, Lucky's Market spokeswoman. "We think it's best at this time to close it and focus efforts on existing stores and we do have large number of other store openings planned this year. It just didn’t experience the growth we need to keep this store open. The store just wasn’t able to turn the corner and be able to grow."
Lucky's is announcing discounts starting at 25 percent on food and 20 percent on beer, wine and spirits beginning Wednesday; discounts will increase as the closing approaches. Rewards points and gift cards can still be used before the store closes or at the Lucky's Market in Louisville, which is staying open.
Beginning May 6, the Lexington store's hours will be shorter: It will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.
Employees were notified of the closure on Monday morning. The store has around 100 employees, according to Torvik. A statement from the company said that they will help employees with job placement and transition plans.
The Colorado-based grocery chain opened its store at 1030 South Broadway in January 2016, promising organic produce for the 99 percent. Based on a model similar to Whole Foods, Aldi or Trader Joe's with lots of quality house-brand products, Lucky's hoped to carve into the crowded field of Lexington supermarkets dominated by Kroger.
Lucky's sold organic, natural and specialty foods and even offered craft beer that customers could drink while they shopped for groceries or picked up prepared food. It's location near the University of Kentucky campus and near the UK hospital and medical campus offered a large pool of potential convenience shoppers, the company said at the time.
But it apparently wasn't enough to make headway into the market.
Lucky's Market also donated produce and other items to local food bank programs, including GleanKY that distributed food weekly to people in need. The company said Monday it is looking for ways to continue working with current non-profit partners.
The first Lucky's natural foods grocery store was started in 2003 in Boulder by two chefs, Trish and Bo Sharon. Lucky's also has a store in Louisville. as well as in Georgia, Iowa, Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Michigan, Florida, Colorado, Montana and Wyoming.
The chain announced plans to close a store in Ellisville, Mo., in August 2017. Founder and CEO Bo Sharon wrote on the company web site about the Missouri closing that the company "just did not experience the growth we needed to keep this store open.”
Despite the closures, Lucky's said it is planning to expand this year and has signed leases for more than 20 new stores.
In 2016, Kroger bought "a meaningful investment" in Lucky's Market. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed but both chains predicted that it would help them expand territory, including into Florida, where Lucky's had stores but Kroger didn't.
The closure is another sign of the Lexington grocery market, which also has Whole Foods, Fresh Market, Aldi, Trader Joe's, Costco, Walmart, Meijer and more, in flux:
— Target announced in April it is opening its third Lexington location near the University of Kentucky campus. Target will open a small-format store for "one-stop shopping."
— Lucky's Market is the second "natural" grocery to attempt to crack the Lexington market and fail: In June 2017, Fresh Thyme closed after less than a year.
— Good Foods Co-op, a locally owned organic and natural grocery, also has announced declining sales and said the store may have to move from its longtime Southland Drive location.
— A planned IGA store for Romany Road in a former Kroger has been on hold with Cox Foods out of the deal. Supplier Laurel Grocery said that it is planning to take the store over and open it but has not released any information on when.
This story was originally published April 30, 2018 9:26 AM.