The Sprouts is expected to be a welcome addition to a sparse Oak Cliff grocery landscape.
DALLAS — A new grocery store is open in Dallas’ Oak Cliff neighborhood – and lines were long early Friday morning.
The Sprouts Farmers Market store at North Hampton Road and Fort Worth Avenue opened its doors at 7 a.m. Friday. A large crowd of shoppers were already lined up for the highly-anticipate opening, with the first shoppers getting there as early as 3 a.m.
The Sprouts is expected to be a welcome addition to a sparse Oak Cliff grocery landscape – a nearby Aldi and a Tom Thumb store further south on Hampton Road are the only two chain supermarkets in the vicinity of the Sprouts location.
Sprouts also had several giveaways planned to celebrate the opening: The first 200 shoppers Friday received a free reusable bag filled with samples, and the first 400 customers got a free long-stem rose from Falcon Farms Floral.
The store was also hosting a scavenger hunt and offering free samples all day Friday, and the giveaways are expected to continue through the weekend.
The Sprouts opening in Oak Cliff is the latest North Texas expansion for the Arizona-based chain.
Sprouts operates 26 stores in North Texas, three of which opened up just last year.
The new Sprouts in Oak Cliff addresses a critical need for the nearby community, which is widely considered a food desert due to the lack of grocery stores.
Sprouts, which has a focus on organic and natural foods, has more than 380 stores nationwide with around 31,000 employees.
In North Texas, they’re among a crowded grocery market, which includes Tom Thumb, Kroger, Whole Foods, Walmart and H-E-B, which has had several planned openings in the future.