LONGMONT, Colo.—Having twenty or so stores scattered from Billings, Mont., to Coral Gables, Fla., might seem like a crazy plan, but Lucky’s Market might just be crazy enough to make it work.
Over the past three years or so, Lucky’s has been putting down roots in midsize markets, college towns, suburbs and the like. Last year, it announced a “strategic partnership” with Cincinnati-based Kroger Co.
In February, the first significant market expansion was announced: six new stores in Florida.
“We have eight existing locations in Florida,” Ben Friedland, vice president of marketing, tells me as we chat at the company’s first expansion store in Longmont. “We’re really trying to round out what we have in the Florida market.”
Lucky’s, which was a one-store operation in Boulder for about 10 years, has a fun mission in mind. They’re “Organic for the 99%,” looking to appeal to shoppers who are interested in natural, organic foods but not interested in the “whole paycheck” image this type of grocer can sometimes portray.
“We try to make shopping for natural and organic accessible,” he says. “From a price point perspective, but also trying to make it feel a little more accessible. Eating is fun. Cooking is fun. Shopping for groceries should be more fun.”
And that’s why you can grab a pint of beer and shop (where local ordinances allow). Lucky’s encourages it.
“It’s not often that people do date night at the grocery store,” Friedland mentions, “but that’s something we see often. Couples shop together and have a good time.”
Every store has a farmers market feel, with garage doors that open up and connect the interior to the exterior, allowing produce to spill out onto the front sidewalk.
“When you come in, you get a better-than-expected quality of product, for less than you expected to pay for it, specifically in produce,” he says.
Friedman says Lucky’s plans to complete the Florida expansion over the next 18 months, but the retailer has eyes on several more markets, in the meantime.