Vitacost.com, Inc. is an American e-commerce company based in

Boca Raton Boca Raton ( ; es, Boca Ratón, link=no, ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It was first incorporated on August 2, 1924, as "Bocaratone," and then incorporated as "Boca Raton" in 1925. The population was 97,422 in the ...

, Florida, that sells

vitamin A vitamin is an organic molecule (or a set of molecules closely related chemically, i.e. vitamers) that is an Nutrient#Essential nutrients, essential micronutrient that an organism needs in small quantities for the proper functioning of its ...

s, supplements and organic grocery products. The company was bought by

Kroger The Kroger Company, or simply Kroger, is an American retail company that operates (either directly or through its subsidiaries) supermarkets and multi-department stores throughout the United States. Founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cinci ...

in 2014. Vitacost was inducted into

Inc Magazine ''Inc.'' is an American business magazine founded in 1979 and based in New York City. The magazine publishes six issues per year, along with surrounding online and social media content. The magazine also produces several live and virtual events y ...

's "Inc. 500 Lifetime Hall of Fame," in 2006 as one of the US's 500 fastest-growing privately held businesses for five consecutive years (2001–2005).

History

Vitacost began operations in 1994 as a catalog retailer of third-party

vitamins A vitamin is an organic molecule (or a set of molecules closely related chemically, i.e. vitamers) that is an essential micronutrient that an organism needs in small quantities for the proper functioning of its metabolism. Essential nutrien ...

and supplements under the name Nature's Wealth Company by its founder Wayne Gorsek In 1999, the company launched Vitacost.com and introduced proprietary vitamins and supplements, which has since expanded to include food, beauty products and sports nutrition. The company completed construction of a

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...

facility located in

Lexington, North Carolina Lexington is the county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term ...

in 2008. Effective September 1, 2012, Vitacost agreed to lease its manufacturing facilities to a third-party provider. On September 23, 2009, Vitacost went public. Vitacost shares traded on the NASDAQ were suspended on December 7, 2010 for financials not adding up. By the time the stock was reinstated by NASDAQ, the stock had lost most of its value with investors losing almost all of their investment. ("Gebben") During 2010, the company expanded and upgraded its West Coast distribution facility located in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

, Nevada. The Company began a similar project for its east coast distribution center, located in

in the spring of 2010, with the building construction completed in the first quarter of 2011. Gorsek was found guilty of securities fraud on January 28, 2003. The SEC Commission announced on this day that the Honorable Jeanne E. Scott, U.S. District Judge for the Central District of Illinois, has found two former brokers and stock promoters, Wayne F. Gorsek ("Gorsek") and Lyndell F. Parks ("Parks"), liable for violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and has enjoined them from further violations of Sections 17(a) and (b) of the Securities Act of 1933 ("Securities Act"), Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 ("Exchange Act") and Exchange Act Rule 10b-5. Judge Scott also imposed additional sanctions against defendants Gorsek, Parks and P. Brenden Gebben. In October 2012, Vitacost.com launched a cruelty-free specialty store showcasing beauty and personal care products that are independently certified by the

Leaping Bunny Cosmetic testing on animals is a type of animal testing used to test the safety and hypoallergenic properties of cosmetic products for use by humans. Since this type of animal testing is often harmful to the animal subjects, it is opposed by a ...

Program, which is operated by the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics. In 2013, Vitacost released several new product lines, including a new sports nutrition line, ARO: Black Series, which includes pre- and post-workout formulas, protein powders, flavored

glutamine Glutamine (symbol Gln or Q) is an α-amino acid that is used in the biosynthesis of proteins. Its side chain is similar to that of glutamic acid, except the carboxylic acid group is replaced by an amide. It is classified as a charge-neutral, ...

creatine Creatine ( or ) is an organic compound with the nominal formula (H2N)(HN)CN(CH3)CH2CO2H. It exists in various modifications (tautomers) in solution. Creatine is found in vertebrates where it facilitates recycling of adenosine triphosphate ( ...

and

branched-chain amino acid A branched-chain amino acid (BCAA) is an amino acid having an aliphatic side-chain with a branch (a central carbon atom bound to three or more carbon atoms). Among the proteinogenic amino acids, there are three BCAAs: leucine, isoleucine, and ...

announced in July 2014 that it would purchase Vitacost.com for $280 million. The acquisition was completed in August 2014.

Reception

In 2017, the company received two awards from the ConsumerLab.com Survey for Top-rated Supplement Brands on Overall Consumer Satisfaction and Top-rated Supplement Merchants on Overall Consumer Satisfaction.

References

Nutrition Industry Stocks Rebound Significantly in 2009
Nutrition Business Journal

External links

Vitacost official website
{{Kroger Nutritional supplement companies of the United States Health food stores Online food retailers of the United States Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq Companies based in Boca Raton, Florida American companies established in 1994 Retail companies established in 1994 1994 establishments in Florida Kroger 2009 initial public offerings 2014 mergers and acquisitions