Lucky’s chain to open in Oakland Park

Organic grocery outlet likes Florida

Consider ourselves lucky to have three.

Lucky’s Market, the lowprice organic grocery chain founded in Boulder, Colo., announced plans to open a third tricounty location this summer.

The next store will be at 1033 E. Oakland Park Blvd. in Oakland Park, where the old Pearl Artist & Craft Supply operated for 38 years.

Soon, Oakland Park shoppers will discover the chain’s farmer’s market atmosphere, locally supplied brands, abundant salad bar and prepared foods deli, bulk dry goods depot, apothecary, beer and wine store, and more.

Lucky’s debuted in the South Florida market in March 2016 at 9200 Wiles Road in Coral Springs, near the intersection of Wiles and University Boulevard.

In December, the chain opened its second area store at 7700 Peters Road in Plantation.

Area shoppers were charmed by the beer and wine counter, where $2 craft beers and $3 glasses of wine are available to sip while strolling.

A date for the Oakland Park store opening has not been set. “We are looking at mid- to late summer this year,” said Ben Friedland, vice president of marketing for the Colorado-based company.

The Oakland Park store is the only South Florida metro location of the six Florida stores that Lucky’s plans to roll out over the next 18 months.

Other Florida cities on Lucky’s to-do list are Port St. Lucie, Sarasota, Panama City, Bonita Springs and St. Petersburg.

In addition to the two Broward County locations, Lucky’s stores that opened over the past year are in Gainesville, Naples, Neptune Beach, Orlando, Tallahassee and Melbourne.

“We’ve been very happy with the way the stores have performed so far in Florida. It gives us confidence more places in Florida want what we have to offer,” Friedland said.

Company officials were impressed by the community’s welcome of the Coral Springs store, he said.

“That one in particular had a great deal of energy,” he said, adding it “has been doing well for us.”

The chain was founded in 2003 when a young couple, Bo and Trish Sharon, accepted an offer to buy a grocery store in Boulder owned by Trish’s parents. The Sharons reinvented the store as a place to sell organic products at “affordable” prices.

A second store wasn’t opened until 2013, and currently the chain is in 11 states.

The company chooses locations based on a range of demographics, but among the most important is demand for natural and organic foods by shoppers without a lot of disposable income, Friedland said. That’s one reason many of the stores are located in cities with universities, he said. In addition to home cities of Florida’s two largest state universities, Lucky’s is in Ann Arbor, Mich.; Savannah, Ga.; Louisville, Ky.; and Columbia, Mo.

In April, the Kroger grocery chain made what it called a “meaningful investment” in Lucky’s. Friedland wouldn’t say whether Kroger has controlling interest in Lucky’s but characterized the relationship as a mutually beneficial partnership. “Kroger can bring down our costs of goods, and we can pass those savings onto our customers,” he said.

Lucky’s brings to Kroger exposure to its culture as a “food-forward company,” he said.

As for further expansion plans once the newly announced slate is complete, Friedland said the company is working on leases in several different states, including Montana “and a few Midwest locations as well.”