In January 2013, Colorado-based Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, a chain of natural/organic groceries, will open a branch in Denton at 110 W. University Ave., in what was previously a furniture store. The Denton store will be the 12th in Texas and the fourth in the Dallas area.

Currently there are outposts in North Dallas, at Preston Road and Forest Lane; near Richardson, at Campbell and Coit roads; and in East Dallas, at Casa Linda Plaza. The chain has outlets across the Southwest and Midwest, in Arizona, Idaho, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.

The stores are small in comparison to the usual mega-supermarket. A Natural Grocers spokeswoman told the Dallas Morning News that the Denton store will have 14,000 square feet. The typical supermarket has 45,000 square feet; big stores like the Whole Foods at Park Lane have 62,000 square feet.

Natural Grocers does not compete with Whole Foods; it is more of a specialty store with a focus on vitamins and supplements. If it had a competitor, it would be Sprouts.

A staffer at the Preston-Forest store said that the chain had plans to open more stores around Dallas-Fort Worth, probably in another outlying suburb.

"They are planning on opening more stores," she said. "We just don't know where they'll be — but probably not right in Dallas. We don't get alerted to the openings until about six months before they're scheduled to happen."

Natural Grocers has an unusual policy in that it offers no bags — paper or plastic. Customers are required to bring their own or else buy a bag at the store. The chain stopped offering bags on Earth Day 2009.