Sprouts Farmers Market in Centereach, New York
photo by author
Ask a New Yorker if they shop at Sprouts, and they’ll have no clue what you’re talking about.
Slowly but surely, that sentiment may start weaning, because the natural grocer is making a big statement as it opens its first store in New York State today–in Centereach, Long Island–marking the halfway point to having a presence in every state.
With the goal of 10% year-over-year growth, this store opening marks the beginning of a larger plan, as Sprouts expects to open dozens more stores in new markets on the East Coast by the end of 2026.
“This is an expansion of our purpose and values in a new market…helping people live and eat better,” Nick Farley, Store Manager at Sprouts Centereach, tells me.”
Sprouts Centereach Grand Opening
Sprouts Farmers Market
While there are a couple of locations in Northern New Jersey, Sprouts is beginning to permeate the I-95 corridor, after becoming a beloved grocer in its strongest markets of Southern California, Texas and Florida, where it is also continuing to expand. Sprouts wants to grow with emerging health-conscious markets and found a good fit–-and some good real estate–in Eastern Long Island, with more on the way.
Long Island’s Smithtown and Levittown will soon see their own Sprouts locations within the next year or so, along with Westchester County’s Hartsdale. Maryland and Massachusetts are going to see their first Sprouts locations in 2026 too.
The new Centereach location is about 25,000 square feet–smaller than its first few hundred stores. “Customers like this new smaller footprint,” Laura Martino, Sprouts’ District Director for North Jersey and New York, tells me. “The format itself is the heartbeat of the store.”
All Sprouts locations share this untraditional heartbeat for a mainstream grocery store, where its produce section is physically in the center of the store, with traditional aisles surrounding it.
The breathable layout is designed as an homage to Sprouts’ genesis as an actual farmers market. Henry Boney and his family opened a fruit stand in San Diego in the 1940s, which later turned into the brick-and-mortar Henry’s Farmers Market. Boney’s son and grandson eventually built that concept even further up when they moved to Arizona, creating Sprouts Farmers Market in 2002. In 2011, Henry’s Farmers Market merged with Sprouts, which is now headquartered in Phoenix.
Sprouts Farmers Market
photo by author
When you walk into Sprouts, you can see the entire expansive store–corner to corner–brightly lit, but not too harshly, and aisles that aren’t so tall where they feel like they’re consuming you as you walk up and down. “We try to make it easy for customers to shop,” Martino says. “You don’t have aisles and aisles that make it overwhelming.” It’s a story in itself, as many options of meat and proteins are at the front of the store, given that’s typically what a meal is based around. “We want people to hunt for their next eating adventure.
Not the heartbeat like the produce section, but Sprouts’ Forager Finds section allows for added adventure and discovery–perhaps its blood vessels, because the brands that sit inside Sprouts’ walls are what give the grocer an opportunity to stand out as a national leader in supporting emerging brands. It’s a reflection of how Sprouts, in addition to its intentional store layout, provides the farmers market feeling by prioritizing these young startups. These brands often find a nice home for themselves at Sprouts given its unique entry opportunity in Forager Finds, where these products are given a 90 trial period in the store. While that’s often considered a very short period to prove real market traction, about 40% of these products graduate onto Sprouts’ primary shelves.
Sprouts Forager Finds Section
photo by author
As all retailers should, Sprouts has high standards that these brands must meet if they want to consider shelf space. Artificial dyes are prohibited and antibiotics are banned in its meat products. While not a dealbreaker, Sprouts buyers prioritize grass-fed meat, organic, and seed-oil free products, including in its own private label line, which accounts for about one third of its product offerings.
A Sprouts signature is its bulk section–composed of dozens of grains, nuts, dried fruits, chocolates and spices–largely a dying breed at US supermarkets. While this may not be where Sprouts scoops up most of its revenue, it contributes to the overall free-flowing environment that Sprouts works to maintain. While it does not have its own butcher and seafood counters, Sprouts does have a deli counter, fresh sushi and sandwiches, heat-and-eat meals, fresh baked goods and a modest cheese selection. The shopper experience leads to an elaborate beauty & wellness section including Sprouts wellness private label line, Real Root.
As major conglomerates control the vast majority of where and how Americans purchase their groceries, Sprouts has the opportunity now, as one of the largest private markets with a national presence, to show that consumers have a deep desire to shop at highly-curated, health-forward and reasonably priced grocery stores that are an experience and discovery tool in themselves–prioritizing visibility and opportunity to small businesses.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/andrewwatman/2026/01/30/sprouts-farmers-market-begins-major-national-expansion-as-first-new-york-location-opens-its-doors/
