Photo: Tom Reel /San Antonio Express-News

Cashier Arnoldo Crispin bags some items for Amanda Cavanaugh at the new Natural Grocers store at 6514 N. New Braunfels Ave.

Cashier Arnoldo Crispin bags some items for Amanda Cavanaugh at the new Natural Grocers store at 6514 N. New Braunfels Ave.

Kelly Ranson heads home with purchases at the new Natural Grocers store at 6514 N. New Braunfels Ave.

Kelly Ranson heads home with purchases at the new Natural Grocers store at 6514 N. New Braunfels Ave.

Jeannine Wild (left) and Josie Amodeo shop in the produce section at the new Natural Grocers store in Alamo Heights.

Jeannine Wild (left) and Josie Amodeo shop in the produce section at the new Natural Grocers store in Alamo Heights.

The new Natural Grocers store the companys second in San Antonio at 6514 N. New Braunfels Ave.

The new Natural Grocers store the companys second in San Antonio at 6514 N. New Braunfels Ave.

Grocery manager Julian Coronado talks with Jo Dornak and Daniel McFall at the new Natural Grocers store.

Grocery manager Julian Coronado talks with Jo Dornak and Daniel McFall at the new Natural Grocers store.

Michelle McClinton shops the fully stocked shelves.

Michelle McClinton shops the fully stocked shelves.

Leslie Palmer turns cruises by the refrigerated items.

Leslie Palmer turns cruises by the refrigerated items.

As organics become more mainstream, offerings in S.A. keep blooming

Mother and daughter Gina Hall and Ali Huser were scoping out the newly opened Natural Grocers store on North New Braunfels Avenue recently, checking out the organic produce, the humanely raised meats and the vitamins and supplements.

Hall joked that the selection reminded her of my hippie days, while Huser explained she was there because shed been born almost a vegetarian.

Both said they were happy to have the store in the Alamo Heights neighborhood the stores second location here and agreed theyd be back.

That these two women of different generations agreed that the store offered the kind of clean and green foods they are trying to eat more of says a lot about how the San Antonio grocery scene continues to evolve and how organic food has moved into the mainstream. As people become more watchful about what they put in their bodies and how diet affects health, more supermarkets are expanding their healthy offerings.

The situation in San Antonio reflects the rest of the country where sales of organic foods exceeded $35 billion in 2014 5 percent of total U.S. food sales according to the Organic Trade Association. And 51 percent of Americans reported buying more organics in 2015 than in 2014.

No surprise, then, that most of the nations largest retailers have publicly committed to offering more of these products to their customers.

In 2013, Target launched a line of organic, GMO-Free food called Simply Balanced. The next year, Walmart introduced its Wild Oats label.

Then last year Costco became the countrys top organic-food retailer with $4 billion in annual sales, compared to $3.6 billion for Austin-based Whole Foods Market, according to TheStreet.com. Costco highlights its organic offerings with green signage and often displays organics right next to conventionally raised produce for easy comparison.

As organics become ever more mainstream and these large chains duke it out for market share, prices continue to go down and consumers are paying ever less for organics.

Three pounds of organic bananas at the Schertz Costco store recently cost $1.99, versus $1.39 for the nonorganic. Two pounds of green beans were priced at $5.99 and $4.99, respectively. And 5.5 pounds of Gala apples went for $9.99 and $6.99.

San Antonio chef Elizabeth Johnson said she often finds organics cost less at her local Costco than from her traditional food purveyors.

With things like organic quinoa, basmati rice, dates, cashew pieces, youd be hard-pressed to find better prices than at Costco, said Johnson, owner of Pharm Table, which specializes in organic, plant-based cuisine.

A Costco representative declined to comment for this article.

The competition is good for consumers because supermarkets are no longer able to charge such a large premium on foods perceived as being clean, green and natural, said Rupesh D. Parikh, a senior analyst with Oppenheimer & Co. Overall, the market should continue to grow robustly, but well see see that growth spread out more widely among a larger number of players.

While a 2015 Consumer Reports survey found that organic foods were an average of 47 percent more expensive than their conventional counterparts, the difference shrank 8 percent between 2011 and 2015, according to the Organic Trade Association.

Walmart took one of the first shots across the organics bow when it introduced its Wild Oats brand in 2014, with prices that were, on average, 25 percent cheaper than national organics brands.

Even Whole Foods, which charges a premium for its healthy offerings earning it the derisive nickname Whole Paycheck is having to change its approach as customers migrate to lower-priced competitors.

Whole Foods previously announced it would be closing nine stores during the first quarter of this year. More recently it was rumored to be a takeover target of Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons, which once had 20 local stores, but left the San Antonio market in 2002.

In an effort to attract more price-sensitive consumers, particularly millennials, Whole Foods is launching an offshoot brand called 365 by Whole Foods Market that will feature a modern, streamlined design, innovative technology and a curated selection, said co-CEO of the company Walter Robb in an interview on NPRs Morning Edition. Prices there tend to be 15 percent to 20 percent lower than in the parent stores, according to Supermarket News.

There are now four 365 by Whole Foods stores open and a dozen more on the way, but the company currently has no plans to open any in the San Antonio area, said spokeswoman Rachel Malish.

The demand for organic foods is so great that at times it has strained supplies. To help guarantee theyll have enough produce, for example, retailers such as Costco and Whole Foods have reportedly offered loans directly to growers to help make the three-year transition from traditional to organic farming easier.

While San Antonio may have been slow to latch onto the trend, were catching up fast, according to observers.

H-E-B, the citys dominant grocery player, has been in the natural food space since the 1990s.

Weve always provided our customers with fresh, healthy food, H-E-B spokeswoman Julie Bedingfield said. But now were calling it out more, being more aggressive in telling our story.

In addition to selling its own private-label organics, the company last year rolled out Select Ingredients, a line of almost 400 products made without synthetic ingredients, including Red 40 and Yellow 5 artificial colors, bleached flour, partially hydrogenated oils and preservatives such as BHT, BHA and EDTA. More recently, it began pilot testing Wellness Centers in H-E-B Plus! stores where customers can watch healthy cooking demonstrations breakfast migas recently get copies of the recipes and buy the ingredients all in one centralized location.

There are currently Wellness Centers in H-E-B Plus! stores at Interstate 35 and FM 3009 and at Bandera Road and Loop 1604.

As one of the largest retail distributors of health and wellness products, we see this almost as the right thing to do, said Bedingfield. We saw this (move to health and wellness) coming two decades ago and we dont see it going away.

But San Antonio has had organic stores for almost 40 years.

Bexar County judge Nelson Wolff opened Sun Harvest, generally considered the citys first health food supermarket, in 1979.

Nobody came into the San Antonio market for years after we opened, he said of the chain he sold in 1999. Then folks like Whole Foods and Trader Joes showed that people were willing to pay more for food thats good for them.

The influx of new organic/natural stores to the area could be a sign of the citys rising income, but chef Johnson says it also reflects new people moving here.

Im seeing more San Antonians who are educated and have traveled and people whove moved here from elsewhere who are more interested in eating better, said Johnson of Pharm Table, Thats made it easier for these chains to justify coming here.

Whole Foods Market, the first grocer to be certified by the federal National Organic Program, entered the San Antonio market in 1993 near Wurzbach Road and Interstate 10 before moving to the Alamo Quarry Market in 1997. The second store, in the Vineyard Shopping Center on Blanco Road and Loop 1604, opened in 2012.

The chain sees San Antonio as a market for healthy food thats equal to any other in Texas.

Youve got amazing farmers markets and a very impressive, expanding restaurant scene, said Kelly Landrieu, a local forager for Whole Foods Markets Southwest Region. (Her title means shes responsible for finding new, locally made products for the store to carry.)

The citys growing food culture is one reason Natural Grocers opened its first store here on NW Military Highway in 2016, according to Clinthorne.

You folks have an undeserved reputation for not wanting to eat anything but chicken fried steak. And thats simply not true, he said.

In addition to selling only organic produce, Natural Grocers recently enhanced its vendor standards. Egg-laying hens, for example, must have access to shaded, outdoor yards where they can take socialize, perch and take dust baths to keep themselves clean and parasite-free. Dairy farms are required require to graze milk cows on managed pastures for a minimum of 120 days.

We gave our vendors plenty of time to adapt to these new requirements, Clinthorne said. But even so we had to drop a number of them because they couldnt or wouldnt meet the deadline.

As demand for this kind of food continues to grow, these vendors may be forced to reconsider their reluctance.

rmarini@express-news.net

Twitter: @RichardMarini

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