Which State Is Home To The Most Sprouts Farmers Markets?

When Sprouts Farmers Market opened in 2002, the idea was that you don't have to be wealthy to eat healthily. Father and son, Stan and Shon Boney opened their first store in Chandler, Arizona, but the family had a long legacy of bringing market fresh produce to the masses.

According to their website, Sprouts' legacy began in 1943 when patriarch, Henry Boney began selling produce at his San Diego fruit stand. From that simple fruit stand came the genesis of Henry's Marketplace grocery store, which was a natural and healthy foods retailer in California. Then in 2011 Sprouts merged with Henry's thus reuniting the Boney family brands. In 2014, Sprouts began an eastern expansion, opening stores in Atlanta, Georgia and by 2018, Sprouts had over 300 stores coast to coast. Today, Sprouts is a major competitor in the grocery store market and they pride themselves on selling healthy products at an affordable price. Despite beginning in Arizona, the chain has more stores in a neighboring state.

Back to their roots

Even though Sprouts began in Arizona, it might not come as a surprise that the majority of Sprout's 381 locations would be in the Golden State. After all, Henry Boney was a Southern California businessman and he started his first grocery chain in California.

California is known as a state that prides itself on being healthy and using fresh ingredients, with some of the lowest obesity rates in the nation, according to U.S. News. Avocado toast, anyone? So, it's no wonder so many Californians would want a Sprouts Farmers Market nearby.

What's a bit wilder is that California is home to 33% of Sprouts' stores, per ScapeHero. California's number of Sprouts locations is more than double any other state in the union. A whopping 128 of Sprouts' locations extend from San Diego all the way up to Redding. According to Statista, Sprouts easily increased its locations from 40 to 374 between 2009 and 2021. That's an 800% increase in twelve years. 

It seems like Stan and Shon Boney set out to get healthy foods into the hands of the masses at an affordable price, but what they ended up doing was building an empire.