Lucky's Market

Lucky's Market is a brand of supermarkets that is being used by two independent and unrelated regional supermarket chains, LM Acquisition Co. LLC in Colorado and Lucky's Market Ohio in Ohio.

LM Acquisition Co. LLC , doing business as Lucky's Market, started in Boulder and briefly became a national chain before it shrank back to its home state. Founded in 2003 by Bo and Trish Sharon, the chain focuses primarily on organic food. From 2016 to 2019, the company was partially owned by the Kroger supermarket chain. At its peak in 2019, the company had 39 stores in ten states. The withdrawal of financial support from Kroger at the end of 2019 led to a massive company downsizing to just six surviving stores in four states and a Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection filing in January 2020. After the Sharons obtained the surviving six stores, they quickly sold off the four stores outside of Colorado to retain only two stores, one in Boulder and the other in Fort Collins, by April 2020.

Lucky's Market Ohio, doing business as Lucky's Market in the state of Ohio, began in 2020 through the purchase of both Ohio stores from LM Acquisition by the owners of Dave's Market.

History

Bo Sharon and his wife, Trish Sharon, founded Lucky's Market in Boulder, Colorado, in 2003. The two had taken over a grocery store, then known as the North Boulder Market, and renovated it. The couple chose to make a store focusing primarily on organic food. After operating their first store for 10 years, they then opened a second store in Longmont, Colorado, in August 2013.[1]

Rapid expansion outside of Colorado

The first expansion beyond Colorado was in Columbus, Ohio in October 2013, the third store in the chain.[5] Supermarket News described the store's format as "value-priced natural and organic foods served in a hip and playful atmosphere targeting foodies". Many stores allowed customers to sample craft beers while shopping.[6]

Lucky's opened its first store in the state of Missouri, the fourth in the chain, in January 2014 in Columbia, the home of the University of Missouri.[7] A second Missouri store, the seventh in the chain, was opened in the St. Louis suburb of Ellisville in July 2014.[8] A third Missouri store opened in Springfield in November 2017.[9]

Lucky's opened its first store in the state of Montana in March 2014 in Billings, the fifth in the chain.[10][11] A second Montana store was opened four years later in Missoula in May 2018.[12] Both stores were eventually closed in February 2020.[13]

Lucky's opened its first store in the state of Kentucky, its sixth in the nation, in May 2014 in Louisville by holding a "bacon cutting" ceremony.[14][15]

The company opened its first store in the state of Michigan in February 2015 in the university town of Ann Arbor.[16] A second Michigan store was opened in Traverse City in January 2017.[17]

The company opened its first store in the state of Wyoming in March 2015 in Jackson.[18]

Lucky's opened its first and only store in the state of Indiana was opened in May 2015 in Bloomington.[19]

The company's first and only store in the state of Iowa was opened in June 2015 in Iowa City.[20]

The company opened its first and only store in the state of Georgia was opened in July 2015 in Savannah.[21]

Investment by Kroger

Lucky's expanded into Florida in 2016, and had eight stores in the state by late 2017. Their expansion coincided with expansions in the state from competing chains such as Sprouts Farmers Market and Earth Fare.[22]

The Kroger Co. made a large investment in Lucky's Market in April 2016.[23] This investment allowed the chain to accelerate the rate of store opening and the chain planned to open 50 stores in Florida by 2020. At the time of the announcement, Lucky's Market had 17 stores in 13 states that were located in the Midwest and Southeast United States.[23]

A second Ohio store was opened in Cleveland in May 2018.[24]

In January 2019, Lucky's opened their fifth store in Colorado in Fort Collins.[25]

Mass store closings and later bankruptcy filing

On January 21, 2020, Lucky's Market announced that it was closing 20 of its 21 locations in Florida, leaving only the store in West Melbourne. Liquidation sales began the next day, January 22, and had continued up to February 12. No announcement was made concerning the fate of the 14 stores in Florida that were under construction at the time of the announcement.[29] A store that was planned for opening in Spring 2021 in Denver, Colorado was canceled the same day.[30] Additional sources indicate that there are plans to close as many as 32 stores in 10 states, leaving the chain with only 7 stores remaining, an 82% reduction.[31][32] At the time of the closing announcement, Lucky's had stores in Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Ohio and Wyoming. The store closings across the U.S. includes the company's complete withdrawal from the states of Georgia,[33] Indiana,[34]

trade name	Lucky's Market
type	Private
industry	Retail
founded	2003 in Boulder, Colorado
founders	Bo and Trish Sharon
hq location city	Niwot, Colorado
hq location country	U.S.
num locations	2 stores (December 2021)
area served	Colorado
products	Supermarket
owner	Bo and Trish Sharon
website	https://luckysmarket.com

History

Rapid expansion outside of Colorado

Investment by Kroger

Mass store closings and later bankruptcy filing

Lucky's Market Ohio

External links

References