Henry's Farmers Market (also known as Boney’s Market and Henry's) was a grocery retailer headquartered in

La Mesa, California La Mesa () is a city in San Diego County, California, United States, located east of downtown San Diego in Southern California. The population was 61,121 at the 2020 census, up from 57,065 at the 2010 census. Its civic motto is "the Jewel of ...

. In 2011, it started becoming part of the

Sprouts Farmers Market Sprouts Farmers Market, Inc., is a supermarket chain headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. The grocer offers a wide selection of natural and organic foods, including fresh produce, bulk foods, vitamins and supplements, packaged groceries, meat, poul ...

chain, with a full acquisition taking place by mid-2013.

History

Henry’s Farmers Market was an operator of natural-foods stores. The company was established in 1943 when Henry Boney and his family opened a fruit stand on a street corner in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, beginning with a truckload of peaches. During the next few decades, the fruit-stand business expanded into a chain of grocery stores. The Henry's chain included 23 stores in Southern California and one in Northern California in 1999, when it was acquired by

Wild Oats Markets Wild Oats Marketplace (Legal name (business), registered as Wild Oats Marketing, LLC) is a producer of Natural foods, natural and Organic food, organic foods, food distributed through partnerships in the United States. Founded in 1987 in Boul ...

. After the buyout, the Boney family developed the Arizona-based Sprouts; the first store opened in

Chandler, Arizona Chandler is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, and a suburb in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area, Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is the List of municipalities in Arizona, fourth-most populous city in Arizona ...

, in 2002. Following a merger in August 2007, Wild Oats—including the Henry's Farmers Market locations—was acquired by

Whole Foods Market Whole Foods Market, Inc. (colloquially referred to as simply Whole Foods) is an American multinational supermarket chain store, chain headquartered in Austin, Texas, which sells products free from Hydrogenated fat, hydrogenated fats and artificia ...

. In October 2007, Whole Foods Market sold all 35 Henry's Farmers Market and Sun Harvest Market stores to a subsidiary of Los Angeles grocer

Smart & Final Smart & Final is a chain of warehouse-style food and supply stores based in Commerce, California, which developed through a series of mergers and expansions. The oldest of the combined companies, Hellman, Haas & Co., was founded in 1871 in Lo ...

for $166 million (~$ in ). Earlier in 2007, Smart & Final had been acquired by the private equity firm

Apollo Management Apollo Global Management, Inc. is an American Asset Management, asset management firm that primarily invests in alternative assets. , the company had $548 billion of assets under management, including $392 billion invested in credit, including ...

. In December 2010, Henry's announced plans to open its first

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

store in the downtown area of

Boise Boise ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 census, there were 235,685 people residing in the city. Located on the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and nor ...

in 2011. However, a week after the announcement, plans for the Boise store were stalled. In early 2011, the Boney family's second venture, Sprouts, was purchased by Apollo Management, which announced that it would be merging Sprouts and Henry's Farmers Market. The combined company, which operates under the name Sprouts Farmers Market, had 98 stores and more than 7,000 employees at the time the transaction closed in the second quarter of 2011.

References

{{Supermarkets of the United States Defunct supermarkets of the United States Retail companies established in 1943 Companies based in Phoenix, Arizona Health food stores Private equity portfolio companies