The highest-profile of the four is Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods Market, which is coming to Oklahoma City courtesy of Chesapeake Energy Corp.

About two miles west of Whole Foods, Phoenix-based Sunflower Farmer’s Market is going in at the northeast corner of NW 63 Street and May Avenue, after two years of recruitment efforts by the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber. Norman will be home to the area’s first Colorado-based Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, and homegrown Buy for Less is bringing a high-end market to north Edmond called Uptown Grocery Co.

Alison Oshel, director of community redevelopment for the chamber, says it took the stores’ leadership understanding the local demographic, and that with the benefit of not having big-city traffic, people will drive farther distances for better stores. A chamber poll showed that many people who live even 20-30 miles from Whole Foods say they will frequent the store.

“In Oklahoma City, when we say 16 miles, it means 16 minutes,” she says. “In Dallas or Austin, 16 miles can mean 30 minutes.”

Another challenge was convincing national specialty grocery chains that despite Walmart holding more than 50% of the local grocery market, consumers here are not always looking for simply the best deal.

“They think the Walmart dominance in this market is a cue that we are a price-conscious market,” she says. “We’re not price conscious; we’re valueconscious.”

Other grocery stores that have looked at the local market, or that the city would like to recruit, include North Carolina-based The Fresh Market, Arizona-based Sprouts Farmers Market and California-based Trader Joe’s, Oshel says.

Before the recession, Oshel says, Sprouts was picking sites in Oklahoma. Those plans were eventually shelved.

“I think we’ll get them back,” she says. Trader Joe’s has not looked at Oklahoma, she says, but is opening two stores in Kansas, which means the company could be heading this way.

Susan Binkowski, who with her husband, Hank, owns Buy for Less, says they have found that shoppers in Oklahoma want more than standard grocery options since interest in nutrition is growing.

“We’ve seen this trend across the country as the general population has gotten a lot more educated about organics and overall health,” she says.

Eric Fleske and Judy Hatfield with Equity Commercial Realty signed Natural Grocers for the former Ace Hardware building on Main Street in Norman.

With the success in Norman of smaller organic and specialty markets like Native Roots Market, Forward Foods and the Earth Natural Cafe and Deli, Hatfield says residents have proven that they like having options in organic and specialty groceries. She says Natural Foods will be a welcome addition to the local grocery scene with its selection of food, vitamins and supplements.

“Norman is really ripe for some addition to the grocery market,” she says.

Whole Foods As Whole Foods Market has expanded around the world, it just never seemed to have Oklahoma City in its crosshairs. Tulsa’s Wild Oats Market was converted to a Whole Foods when the company bought Wild Oats and closed or rebranded the stores.

Finally, in May of last year, Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon announced the natural and organic foods supermarket was coming to the Classen Curve development. On the site of a former funeral home and a parking lot, construction began last year on the 35,000-square-foot store.

Set for completion this fall, the store will feature fresh and prepared foods, groceries from numerous natural, organic and specialty companies, and its proprietary 365 Everyday Value branded products. The company also prides itself on stocking local items, and has company representatives scouting the state for Oklahoma-made products.

One thing that will be missing, however, is Whole Food’s wine and beer department. Due to Oklahoma law, grocery stores cannot carry wine or highpoint beer.

Uptown Grocery Co. Plans for the high-end Edmond store have been in the works for about four years. Susan Binkowski says the market is in response to trends in eating habits and food preferences.

The 48,000-square-foot store will be part of a 72,000-square-foot retail development near Covell Road and Kelly Avenue. The brick building will have the feel of a New York warehouse district store. In addition to offering specialty and organic brands, she says the store will have staples and familiar brands that are often not found in stores like Whole Foods Market.

“This will be the best of both worlds,” she says.

The store, as with the Buy for Less stores, will feature a number of Oklahoma products. About 35% of the store space will be dedicated to a restaurant and eating areas. Susan Binkowski says the store is scheduled to open in February 2012. The price tag on the entire project is about $13 million.

Sunflower Farmers Market Sunflower Farmers Market is set to open its first Oklahoma store in September in a 28,000-square-foot space at the northeast corner of NW 63 Street and May Avenue. The store is a full-service natural and organic grocer, and will feature local produce, allnatural meats and seafood, a deli, and various health and wellness products.

Founded in 2002, the company has grown to include about 36 stores in six states. Company CEO Chris Sherrel describes the stores as offering “serious food at silly prices.”

The project cost is about $6 million.

Natural Grocer by Vitamin Cottage What started as a door-to-door business in 1955 selling wholegrain bread and lending books about nutrition education in Golden, Colo., has grown to a chain with stores in five states. Oklahoma will be the company’s sixth market when it opens a 20,000-square-foot store in Norman at 1918 W Main St., set to open in July.

The stores, like the original founders’ efforts, offer an extensive array of nutritional and health information to help people make better choices about what they eat and drink. In the produce aisle, the stores pride themselves on offering only certified organic produce.

In the vitamin and supplement sections, the stores offer everything from vitamin C to products that aid in digestion, sleep and pain relief.

The 31-store chain has more than 1,200 employees.