Multiple Alternative Grocery Stores Opening In Tulsa

Call it an organic explosion.

Demand for natural, gourmet, and hard-to-find ingredients is fueling a new wave of Green Country grocery stores.

A new Sprouts, on 41 and Harvard, welcomed customers for a few hours Tuesday to see what their grocery store had to offer.

This is just one of three other chains to add more locations in Green Country.

Judy Cornelius, a Sprouts Shopper, said, "I was overwhelmed at the store. I'm glad we have the store here now,"

Grocery store shoppers in Tulsa are on a health food craze.

Another Sprouts shopper,Luisa Saavevra,said, "Now we have more and more and I'm really happy that this is happening,"

Shoppers are looking for organically grown foods. Fresh produce, dairy products, baked foods and meats are all found at this midtown Sprouts Farmers Market location in Midtown.

The new store is fueling a demand by shoppers looking for a new experience in a grocery store.

"I like the presentation," Cornelius said. "As soon as you come in I like the presentation of everything,"

Since last fall, Natural Grocers opened its doors ten blocks up the street at 31 and Harvard.

Whole Foods went south with its new store at 91 and Yale.

Tulsa is now home to at least ten big-name alternative grocery stores.

Danny Harris, General Manager of Green Acres Market, said, "It's been a big surprise over the last few years just how much it's grown in the area."

Green Acres Market opened in Jenks a few years ago.

"You can come in and taste the difference," Harris said.

He believes Oklahomans are getting smarter about what they put in their bodies and that's why they are shopping for more organic foods.

"They want to eat clean, live clean and just have a healthy lifestyle," said Harris.

Health and beauty consultant Abigail Engel says people are also looking for ways to stay healthy by using the right supplements.

"It's going to improve our economy, it's going to improve everybody's attitude, people will be happier," Engel said.

"It is important because your health is important," Luisa Saavevra said.

Sprouts will cut the ribbon on their new store Wednesday at 7 a.m.