National grocer Sprouts plans to open 1st Chicago store in Jefferson Park, replacing once planned Trader Joe’s

by BRIAN NADIG

Sprouts Farmers Market, a publicly traded $7.7 billion retailer, is now planned for the former CVS Pharmacy site at 6200 W. Higgins Ave., where a Trader Joe’s grocery store had been planned.

The announcement was made at a Sept. 2 community meeting held by Alderman James Gardiner (45th) at the Branch Community Church, 6125 W. Foster Ave. More than 150 people attended the meeting.

Sprouts plans to open 35 stores in Illinois during the next 5 years. It has more than 455 stores in 24 states. The Higgins location would be Sprouts first store in Chicago.

Sprouts describes itself as a health-focused store, with plenty of produce and other natural organic food options.
It sells a variety of products, including vegan items and meat, seeking to cater to several different diet plans that their customers have. About half of the produce department consists of organic items, and fish and freshly baked breads also are sold.

Sprouts, which was formally founded in 2002, would be leasing the property, which has been vacant for 3 years, from a developer which plans to buy the parcel. That developer reportedly has built many Sprouts.

“Our goal is to help people live and eat better” is the company’s theme, Sprouts senior VP of real estate operations Dan Croce said, adding that its customer base is a “health enthusiast” looking for a specific food.
The store would measure about 22,000 square feet.

“Without a doubt, … we got feedback that we wanted a grocery store in this community,” Gardiner said of the input he received while walking the neighborhood and talking to residents.

Trader Joe’s was planing to purchase the property, but a disagreement “over costs” ended the deal, according to Gardiner. In May the City Council rezoned the property to accommodate the planned Trader Joe’s.

A lawyer for the property said at the meeting that Trader Joe’s was “just unreasonable” and that “everything the (state EPA) asked was done,” adding that the parking lot would have acted as a barrier and that any tank did not have to be removed.

Gardiner said at the meeting that the owner went “out of their way” to accommodate Trader Joe’s.

At least a dozen environmental tests have been done on the property, and there could be an underground oil tank on the site, Gardiner. The tank poses no threat to the area, and it is not clear if the tank would have to be removed, he said last month.

However, the possibility of more testing and other associated costs with addressing environmental issues on the site ultimately led to the unraveling of the purchase agreement for the property with Trader Joe’s, according to the alderman.

There was a gas station on the site in the 1950s, but it is believed that the oil tank was put in after the gas station closed for a later business, possibly for an Osco Pharmacy, Gardiner said. He added that “it’s not a fuel tank.”

Croce said, “Our first priority is to get the environmental” issues corrected. He said that if there is an underground tank, it will be removed, adding that their tests indicate there’s an environmental issue on the site but that it can be corrected.

Sprouts plans to renovate the existing building on the site, with a projected early 2027 opening. Its CEO has visited the site.

Under the plans for Trader Joe’s the site’s existing structure would have been replaced by a new 15,500-square-foot store. The parking lot would have had 108 spaces.

The site’s most recent occupant was a CVS Pharmacy, which closed in 2022. Another nearby CVS, located at 6417 W. Higgins Ave., is about two blocks away and remains open for business.

In the 1960s the site was home to a Kroger grocery store and in the 1970s a Dominick’s before an Osco moved in, followed by CVS, according to Northwest Chicago Historical Society researcher Frank Suerth.

Croce told residents that they will get through any permitting or zoning problems that could arise and that the company’s real estate committee plans to discuss the purchase in the coming weeks.

No objections to the Sprouts plan were raised by residents at the meeting, although one resident called for a traffic study. Some residents said that they have shopped at Sprouts in other states.

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