Sluggish sales force grocery store to shut down at month’s end

The Fresh Thyme Farmers Market store in Sugarcreek Twp. will shut its doors for good by the end of the month due to sluggish sales, a company spokeswoman said Wednesday.

The last day for the specialty grocery store at 4317 Feedwire Road will be July 27.

The Dayton area’s other Fresh Thyme store, at 2850 E. Centre Drive in Beavercreek, will operate as usual, a Fresh Thyme spokeswoman said.

The Feedwire Road store closing “is specifically due to the sales volume at this store,” the spokeswoman said.

Chris Sherrell, president and CEO of Fresh Thyme Farmers Market, said, “We are continuing to refine our real estate strategy, but sometimes certain stores are simply not as successful as others. We take the well-being of our staff very seriously — this was not an easy decision for us. We will do everything we can to ease this transition for them.”

The Fresh Thyme spokeswoman said the company is working with employees of the Sugarcreek Twp. store “to identify opportunities at other Fresh Thyme Farmers Market stores. Severance packages will be available to team members not interested in a position at a different store.”

The 28,000-square-foot store opened in March 2015.

Its location is in a portion of Dayton’s south suburbs where grocery competition is fierce. It is directly across Feedwire Road from the Cornerstone of Centerville development, which includes Costco Wholesale and a large Kroger.

A Marc’s grocery store opened less than a year ago 1.5 miles to the west, and a second Kroger store is located about two miles south on Wilmington Pike. There’s also a Target in the same shopping plaza as Fresh Thyme.

When the Feedwire Road Fresh Thyme opened four years ago, company officials said they had plans for a third Dayton-area location, but those plans never materialized. Fresh Thyme signed a 15-year lease on the space that extends through May 31, 2030, according to an online real estate sales listing from earlier this year.

Fresh Thyme, based in Downers Grove, Illinois, operates 75 stores nationwide, mostly in the Midwest.