Sprouts Farmers Market to open in Sunnyvale

Phoenix, AZ – June 2, 2010 — Sprouts Farmers Market, one of the nation’s fastest growing retailers, opens its 50th store in Sunnyvale, CA today – and in so doing will literally return to its roots. As part of the Sunnyvale grand opening, the first Northern California store for the family-owned company,
Sprouts has announced a wide-ranging partnership with Full Circle Farm, an 11-acre sustainable farm located just three miles from the new Sprouts location. Sprouts will be helping to raise funds for the non-profit farm, and will help it to develop agricultural-based curricular programs targeted toward middle school students in Sunnyvale and Silicon Valley.

To kick off the partnership, Sprouts presented Full Circle Farm with a $2000 check to help fund a new irrigation project. “We are very pleased to initiate a partnership with Sprouts Farmers Market, and their generous donation will launch a much-needed irrigation system for Full Circle’s historic 300-tree fruit orchard. This orchard is one of the first to be put back into the Valley of the Heart’s Delight in more than 75 years and provides education on how to live a healthier, more sustainable life,” said Rebecca Jepsen, Executive Director, Full Circle Farm.

Full Circle Farm (fullcirclesunnyvale.com) is a two-year-old community-based neighborhood farm located on property owned by the Santa Clara Unified School District right in the heart of Sunnyvale. It is a 501(c)(3) educational institution, whose mission is to help promote sustainable agriculture and enable people, especially kids, to reconnect with the natural world. They use the farm to put students in charge of the work, responsibility and rewards of growing, harvesting, preparing and eating locally grown foods. Full Circle Farm also oversees Sunnyvale’s one-acre community-based Charles Street Gardens, and hopes to serve as a model for other urban agricultural projects around the country.

Sprouts leadership has been looking for ways to fulfill its “healthy living” mission beyond just the stores, and
hopes to work together with Full Circle Farm to develop food- and nutrition-based educational materials, as well as more programs to promote and sell locally grown produce “This is a golden opportunity for Sprouts to support the very kind of mission our company was created to promote,” said Doug Sanders, President and COO, Sprouts Farmers Market. “Anyone who has ever grown their own food knows what it feels like to get reconnected to the soil. It’s important to understand where our food comes from, and to convey that learning and the life lessons that go with it to the young people of Sunnyvale,“ continued Sanders.