What time does sprouts grocery store close

Two Bay Area Sprouts Farmers Market stores that have served residents for about a decade will close on June 3, the company announced this month.

The grocer said it will permanently close both its Fremont store at 3900 Mowry Ave. in the Fremont Plaza Shopping Center and its Mountain View store at 630 San Antonio Rd. in the World Savings Plaza.

The company did not cite a specific reason for the closures, though rising rents and competition from other nearby grocery stores could have triggered the decision, according to representatives for the two property owners.

Until they close for good, the stores will remain open seven days a week, from 7 a.m. until 10 p.m., according to an emailed statement from the company.

“Choosing to close a store, and in this case two stores, is always a difficult decision,” Dustin Hamilton, a regional vice president for Sprouts, said in the statement. “However, we’ve reached the end of our lease with both property owners, and with the proximity of our nearby stores, we made the decision to close these locations.”

All employees of the two locations that will be closing have been offered “the ability to stay employed with the company,” Hamilton said. “We’ll work closely with each team member to facilitate the transition. We greatly appreciate the hard work and dedication these team members have put in over the years and hope they will continue to work for Sprouts.”

Sprouts did not respond to questions about why the stores won’t be renewing leases.

David Taxin, an agent with the commercial real estate firm Meacham Oppenheimer in San Jose, is listing the Mountain View location for rent, and said it’s a “big deal” that Sprouts is closing up shop there.

“It’s about the best territory in the Bay Area,” Taxin said of the property, because of its location at the intersection of two main arteries, El Camino Real and San Antonio Road.

Taxin said Sprouts and other grocers typically sign long-term leases with options for renewals, and the rising rents wouldn’t have been a surprise to the company. He noted Sprouts didn’t try to negotiate a lower rate at the Mountain View location.

“Were the times better 10 years ago when they signed these lower rents, and now they’ve crept up to a point where they can’t make it work? Or are they not doing the business? That’s the question,” he said Wednesday.

Taxin said a Safeway opened across the street after Sprouts moved in roughly a decade ago, and a Whole Foods more than twice the size of Sprouts is about a half-mile down the road in Los Altos.

“Are they getting spanked by Whole Foods, that’s another question,” Taxin said.

Sprouts, in its statement, said the closures “will not affect the planning to open approximately 15-20 stores this year,” but didn’t offer further details.

James Quadra, an attorney for the property owner of the Fremont Plaza, Sunhill Enterprises, said during lease negotiations, Sprouts asked for a lower rent rate.

“They wanted a reduction and it wasn’t feasible,” Quadra said. “They asked Sunhill to rent out the location at a price that Sunhill could not afford,” given the costs to maintain the shopping center, Quadra said.

Quadra also said Sunhill’s tenants in the shopping center suffered from reduced foot traffic even before the pandemic due to Fremont’s redevelopment and extension of Capitol Avenue — part of the city’s plan to create a downtown strip, just behind the center.

Sunhill was embroiled in a yearslong lawsuit with the city over its decision to close driveways on the south side of the shopping center along Capitol, which Sunhill argued in court changed decades-old entry and exit patterns, leading to reduced traffic at the plaza.

Rite Aid and Petco stores located in the plaza both closed in recent years.

“Some of the tenants just couldn’t afford to stay there because of the foot traffic being reduced,” Quadra said. “Sprouts I think suffered from that as well.”

Sunhill’s lawsuit against Fremont recently concluded with a settlement, with the city agreeing to pay Sunhill $1 million, turn over some excess property along Capitol to Sunhill, and allow Sunhill to put in two driveways along Capitol, one of which will only be temporary, according to Quadra and city staff reports.

The Fremont City Council approved the settlement earlier this month.

As part of the agreement, Sunhill will have to redevelop plots that formerly housed an old Goodyear tire service center and a gas station, near the frontage of Fremont Boulevard and the western end of Capitol Avenue.

Property owners for both the Mountain View location and Fremont location are in talks with other grocers to fill the spots that Sprouts will leave vacant, the representatives said.

Having a grocery store at the Fremont location is “important for the community” Quadra said, noting that a new lease with another grocery store for the space is almost complete. He declined to say the name of the new grocery store, but said the deal will be finalized “very soon.”

Around the Fremont Plaza, there is a Safeway and Trader Joe’s in the Fremont HUB shopping center across Fremont Boulevard, and there is a Whole Foods just a few blocks east on Mowry.

What is the best day to shop at Sprouts?

Is Sprouts more expensive than Walmart?

Is Sprouts cheaper than Trader Joe's?

Is Sprouts owned by Amazon?