Supermarket News

Sprouts grocery to open 2 new stores in Dallas-Fort Worth in 2021

Produce as always will be front and center.

Sprouts Farmers Market

The Sprouts Farmers Market supermarket chain is opening a new kind of store in North Texas: It's a smaller-format store concept, and will appear in four cities across the U.S., including Grand Prairie. The others are in Florida, Georgia, and Arizona.

The Grand Prairie store will be located at Pioneer Parkway and Carrier Parkway; many parkways in Grand Prairie. This new store model is about 25,000 square feet — 20 percent smaller than the chain's average store size of 28,000-30,000 square feet.

Sprouts is also opening a store in Las Colinas, but that one will be regular size, at MacArthur Boulevard and Las Colinas Boulevard; many boulevards in Las Colinas.

Both stores are slated to open in 2021.

The decision to downsize some new stores is partially a response to COVID-19, but also to keep the focus on what Sprouts does well, according to Sprouts Chief Format Officer Dave McGlinchey.

"This year, Sprouts will densify its footprint with more stores opening in California, Florida, and Texas,” McGlinchey says in a statement. "We're excited to introduce our newest format in four stores and plan to feature this format with even more stores next year, when we will be expanding at unit growth of 10 percent or more."

"The smaller size is very efficient and keeps produce at the heart of the store while maintaining our familiar open layout that will offer more assortment of products for a treasure hunt shopping experience," McGlinchey says.

"Our refreshed format highlights the unique experience Sprouts is known for while emphasizing product innovation, attributes, and departments meaningful to our target customers like high-quality meat and seafood, frozen items, and plant-based products," he says.

In 2020, Sprouts Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer Denise Paulonis told Winsight, a grocery site, that the company "realized our box was just becoming too big and too expensive to build to maintain the economics we had historically."

They'll work to retain their original farmers market feel, with smaller square footage but no less categories; maybe just fewer items in each category.

Other improvements inspired by COVID-19 include a greater emphasis on healthy products including vitamins and supplements, as well as a significant increase in plant-based, keto-friendly and vegetarian frozen foods.

Sprouts currently operates 362 stores in 23 states. The grocer will open approximately 20 stores in 2021.

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RIP Al

Beloved Dallas restaurateur Al Biernat dies at 69 after ALS battle

Dallas restaurateur Al Biernat, RIP

Beloved Dallas restaurateur Al Biernat, founder of the acclaimed local steakhouse Al Biernat's, passed away on November 13, following a battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also called ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease; he was 69.

Biernat was one of Dallas' all-time great hospitality figures, dating back to his days at The Palm steakhouse, for whom he worked in Los Angeles, Houston, and Dallas.

Biernat founded his namesake restaurant in 1998 on Oak Lawn Avenue, where his standard of excellence and doting charm made it a destination for special occasions, Park Cities swells, and celebrities in town.

His sense of hospitality had little competition in Dallas. He was a charming and personable host who genuinely liked people, and it didn't matter whether you were Conan O'Brien, David Crosby, or one of the other high-profile diners that visited his restaurants — or else just a regular schlub: He had a knack for making everyone feel special and remembered.

Biernat was born on August 20, 1955 and grew up in Michigan, then lived in Colorado, New York, Los Angeles, and Houston, before moving to Dallas to work at The Palm in the West End, where his dynamic presence gave the restaurant an incomparable vitality; it closed in 2017.

He opened Al Biernat's at 4217 Oak Lawn Ave. in 1998, followed by a second location in North Dallas at 5251 Spring Valley Rd. in 2017.

He began to experience ALS symptoms in May 2023, was diagnosed in December, and revealed his condition in February 2024. The revelation was met with an outpouring of sympathy and well wishes from the hospitality industry — a sign of the high regard in which he was held.

The average life expectancy for people with ALS is two to five years after diagnosis. Symptoms can begin in the muscles that control speech and swallowing, or in the hands, arms, legs, or feet. He began to have difficulty communicating in September, and spent his last days in a hospice.

On September 18, he broached the topic of dying, before ending on a note of gratitude to friends and family.

"Having Bulbar ALS I am realistic about my future," he said. "Friends and family have asked me if I’m afraid of dying, and this is what I say to them. Because of the salvation of Jesus, I will be rejoicing in my spirit to see him in all of his glory. Since we are all flesh, soul, and spirit, only my flesh is being left behind. But don’t get me wrong, I have a blessed life in this world, with a loving wife, and a beautiful family and many wonderful and caring friends. I am grateful!"

Both Al Biernat's locations will continue to remain open under the management of Biernat's nephew Brad Fuller, as they have for nearly the past two years.

Biernat is survived by Fuller, as well as his wife Jeannie and three daughters: Angelica Saylor, Kaitlin Biernat Connell, and Jess Biernat, plus five grandsons and two granddaughters. . According to family members, details regarding a celebration of his life will be announced soon.

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