Henry's Farmers Market
Henry's Farmers Market (also known as Henry's Marketplace and Henry's) was a grocery retailer that operated in California. In 2011, it started becoming part of the Sprouts Farmers Market chain with a full acquisition taking place by early- to mid-2013. History. Henry’s Farmers Market was an operator of natural-foods stores that suggest a shopping experience similar to the produce stands and neighborhood butchers of the 1950s. Henry’s stores offered produce, vitamins and supplements, and all-natural foods. The beginnings of Henry's Farmers Market were established in 1943, when a  family bought a truckload of peaches and sold them on a street corner in San Diego. Henry's first store in Northern California opened in Elk Grove on August 18, 2010. In December 2010, Henry's announced plans to open its first Boise, Idaho store in the downtown area, in 2011. However, a week after the announcement, plans for the Boise store were stalled. Acquisitions. The Henry's chain included 23 stores in Southern California and one in Northern California. In 1999, Wild Oats Markets, Inc. acquired Henry's Marketplace from the Henry Boney Family. Following a highly debated merger  in August 2007, Wild Oats was acquired by Whole Foods Market. Soon thereafter, 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, Inc., for $166 million. Earlier in 2007, Smart & Final had been acquired by the private equity firm Apollo Management. "Sprouts" is the second specialty market brand developed by the Henry Boney family, who sold Henry's Marketplace in 1999 (rebranded Henry's Farmers Market in 2004). In early 2011, Sprouts announced that it would be merging with Henry's  Farmers Market. The combined company, which will operate 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.