CeLebrating The Return Of A Local Legend

A forerunner of the natural food supermarket movement, Alfalfa's reinvents itself and succeeds in redefining the channel.

Alfalfa's is back and better than ever. Located in Boulder, Colo., which many consider the cradle of the nation's natural food movement, the new Alfalfa's Market is unquestionably the birthplace of a new breed of health food supermarket.

The 20,000-square-foot Alfalfa's is a stunning marriage of upscale natural food store and European gourmet marketplace. With features like a fill-your-own-bottle artisan olive oil station and a deli offering some 60 raw-milk cheeses, as well as handmade and cured sausages, a scratch bakery, and a wine and spirits department stocked with organic and biodynamic selections, the store has raised the bar on retailing across the spectrum of natural, conventional and gourmet grocery.

While the reinvented Alfalfa's held its grand opening on Earth Day (April 22) earlier this spring, the original store debuted in 1979 as Pearl Street Market, and became Alfalfa's when it opened at its current location on Broadway and Arapahoe in Boulder in 1983.

Alfalfa's Market

1651 Broadway Street, Boulder, Colo.

Grand Opening Date: April 22, 2011

Store Hours: 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Sunday

Total Square Footage: 20,000

Number of Associates: Approximately 200 full-and part-time employees

Store Designers: Boulder, Colo.-based design firm CommArts, PEH Architects and general contractor Deneuve Construction, with significant input from Alfalfa's founders

The market grew to be one of the country's leading-edge natural product retailers throughout the 1980s and 1990s. With 11 stores and an iconic reputation as a community gathering place, Alfalfa's was a true innovator of the health food supermarket, appealing to both foodies and those with a passion for natural and organic foods. The brand was so successful that it caught the attention of Wild Oats Markets, which acquired the chain in 1996.

Now, 15 years after the merger, Mark Retzloff, an original Alfalfa's founder; co-founders and directors Barney Feinblum and Hugo van Seenus; and VP of vendor relations Jimmy Searcy have resurrected the Alfalfa's name, along with the grocer's commitment to organic and locally sourced products.

“We wanted to go back to our roots with the opening of this store,” says van Seenus, who has been pioneering natural retail brands, including the highly successful Bread and Circus and Lazy Acres Market, since 1969. “Originally, natural food stores were predominantly organic. Slowly, our industry has moved away from that,” he asserts. “We thought there was a new need for a more organic, local-focused store.”

Local Champions

Every department in Alfalfa's is either mostly organic — like the produce department proffering 400 SKUs, only two of which aren't organic — or 100 percent organic, like the juice bar serving up elixirs, smoothies and fresh juices. That Alfalfa's is proud of its Boulder which aren't organic — or 100 percent the juice bar serving up elixirs, smoothies fresh juices. That Alfalfa's is proud of its Boulder heritage is evident throughout the store.

Local products are well represented in each department, and colorful murals depicting local farmers are a distinct design feature in the produce department.

“Our relationship with many of these farmers goes back to the early days of Alfalfa's, and even earlier, when the store was the Pearl Street Market,” explains van Seenus. “These people are our friends,” he says gesturing to the mural of the smiling Munson family. “We were happy to have them back working with the store.”

But it's not only the produce that celebrates the abundance of locally grown. Alfalfa's is so committed to promoting local foods and furthering Boulder's role as a hatchery for fledgling natural food businesses that plans are underway to install a section devoted exclusively to the products of startup local natural food companies. “We'll give them a venue to see how they sell,” says Alfalfa's spokeswoman Sonja Tuitele. “Based on how well they do, they can determine if they need to make changes to their packaging, marketing and so on.”

Natural Design

The redesign of Alfalfa's was itself an homage to local resources. A collaboration of Boulder-based design firm CommArts, PEH Architects and general contractor Deneuve Construction, with significant input from the Alfalfa's founders, the renovated store features more than 8,000 linear feet of reclaimed Colorado Beetle Kill Pine (from trees killed by the Pine Beetle), stone sourced from local quarries, recycled brick, and the original flooring from the old market.

Alfalfa's design team employed cutting-edge green building practices and environmentally friendly elements throughout the market, including a state-of-the-art glycol refrigeration system, which uses less energy, and a white roof that provides up to 18 percent greater energy savings. “One of our key foundations is that we do what we can to reduce our negative impact on the environment,” asserts Tuitele. “We were 95 percent zero waste when we opened the store.”

This natural food store's commitment to the environment is evident from the parking lot, which is equipped with two electric car hookups. Alfalfa's delivery van, currently on order, will be electric as well. Smaller local deliveries will be conducted via electric bicycles outfitted with grocery baskets.

Meandering Marketplace

Once inside the welcoming and airy Alfalfa's Market, customers experience a sensation rarely evoked by a trip to the supermarket — they want to stay as long as possible. The store is designed much like a European marketplace, where each department feels like its own store-within-a-store. The jewel box of a glass-and-reclaimed-wood-constructed wine and spirits department is just to the left of the entrance, and the fragrant floral department blooming with sustainably farmed fresh flowers is to the right.

Alfalfa's wine and spirits department is the only supermarket shop of its kind in Boulder, due to a Colorado law that grants each grocery chain only one liquor license. The exquisitely designed department specializes in sustainable, biodynamic and organic wines, along with organic spirits, many of which are locally made. Handcrafted micro-brewed beers round out the selection.

Beyond floral is a spectacular produce department outfitted with energy-efficient refrigerated cases brimming with colorful fruits and vegetables. Above them is a dynamic media wall, which currently displays eye-popping images of fresh produce, but eventually will show cooking demonstrations, videos telling the stories of local producers, and more. Additional produce is merchandised on tables, each one artfully topped by a generous clay pot centerpiece filled with plants and herbs.

Facing the produce department is Alfalfa's end cap of serve-yourself artisan oils and vinegars from around the world, which are displayed in large tins. Customers can bring in their own bottles for filling or buy one of two different glass bottles for a dollar or two, depending on the size. Plastic containers are free, as are samples, for curious customers.

The Incredible Bulk Aisle

A key destination in any natural food store, the bulk department at Alfalfa's delivers an abundance of staples and specialties. A good number of the bulk bins are labeled as part of Alfalfa's “Sustainable Values” program. “We've selected basic foods that are a part of any pantry, from brown rice to sugar to local cage-free eggs and organic milk, for our Sustainable Values program,” explains van Seenus. Alfalfa's offers 100 items throughout the store that are always well priced. “We want customers who are on a budget to come in and be able to fill their pantries with affordable ingredients,” he adds.

Charcuterie, Cheese and Pasta

One of the most European-inspired departments in the store, the deli department — signed “Charcuterie, Cheese, Pasta” — is a sight to behold. Describing it as “one of our prides and joys,” van Seenus says the store offers more than 300 cheeses cut to order, including Boulder's largest selection of raw-milk cheeses. The department handcrafts its own sausages, which are hung to age behind a gleaming case filled with cheeses, fresh-made pasta and more.

As a single store, Alfalfa's can also offer unique cheeses and other hard-to-find specialties with limited availability. “Some of the cheeses we sell are only available two months of the year,” notes Tuitele. “Being a small store, we can make our offerings more seasonal and eclectic. We can really have fun with it.”

Continue along the perimeter of the store from the cheese and specialty department, and more impossibly fresh foods await. The seafood department features luscious-looking fillets, scallops, shrimp and shimmering whole fish, all of which are chilling on ice so clean and crisp that it sparkles like crystal. Seafood, like every other department, meets the highest standards with regard to all-natural sourcing with minimal environmental impact.

The meat department also exudes a European sensibility. Alfalfa's smokes and prepares three varieties of its own bacon, which hang in a large picture window behind the meat case. The store sources its lamb in carcass form, and it, too, hangs behind the window, waiting to be cut to order. All of the meat and poultry, including grass-fed Lassiter Beef and Colorado pasture-fed chicken, is hormone-and antibiotic-free, vegetarian-fed, and governed by humane treatment standards.

Across the aisle from the meat and seafood departments is a smartly designed demo kitchen that makes a big impression in spite of its small footprint. Dubbed the “Center Stage” and staffed by Alfalfa's “Demo Divas,” the kitchen cooks up natural foods for sampling every day.

Culinary & Café: ‘More Ski Lodge Than Grocery Store’

“Prepared foods” is too literal a description for the globally seasoned, gourmet gastronomic feast that is the culinary department at Alfalfa's. The spacious department encompasses prepared foods, sushi and Japanese cuisine, an on-site scratch bakery, an organic juice bar, and coffee and tea.

A rustically elegant café flooded with natural light, which Tuitele says many customers have described as “more ski lodge than grocery store café,” offers seating for some 70 people inside the department and an additional 45 out on the patio. Features such as a dramatic fireplace made from local artisan-cut stone and a bountiful fresh floral display in the center of the room lend a natural sophistication to the space.

Most of culinary department staff have restaurant or culinary arts backgrounds, notes Tuitele. Their experience explains the delicate pastries made from organic butter, sugar and cream, and the sumptuous yet healthy comfort foods, from roast chicken to Tuscan bean salad, that fill the cases. In the center of the prepared food area, a wood-burning oven turns out 100 percent organic pizzas.

“We're going to extraordinary lengths to procure organic items,” says van Seenus, who stresses that the ingredients used in the culinary department are held to the same high standards as the other products in the store. “Our pizzas are 100 percent organic. Even the yeast is organic, which we import from Germany,” he explains. “We looked everywhere for that yeast, and it's just one example of how we search far and wide in our commitment to organic.”

Rather than replicating Japanese-style sushi and hot dishes, Alfalfa's went straight to the source — a popular local Japanese restaurant called Sushi Zamai. The restaurant occupies a stand in the culinary department and turns out authentic sushi and Japanese breakfast and noodle bowls to adoring customers. “With Asian foods, you really need that background and passion,” asserts van Seenus. “Sushi Zamai is a local favorite, and our customers have a great deal of confidence in the fact that they do it right.”

All of the offerings in the culinary department are made in-house and from scratch. The fresh-made foods, from the eight to 10 soups in the soup bar to the vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free and protein-packed dishes in the prepared food case, demand ample prep space. As a result, the 20,000-square-foot store has five kitchens in all.

Even raw-food aficionados are well fed at Alfalfa's. Next to the 100 percent organic juice bar, there's an entire refrigerated case devoted to raw foods. Additional raw foods are merchandised in various departments throughout the store.

Welcome to Wellness

“Soft lighting in a pretty honeycomb pattern, intimate aisles and an attractive natural cosmetics counter are just some of the niceties to be found in the hushed calm of Alfalfa's wellness department.

“The wellness department is more set apart, more feminine and discreet,” notes van Seenus. There's a real sense of privacy in this part of the store, which is filled with vitamins, supplements, all-natural body care, cosmetics and books.

“Alfalfa's first iteration was really known for its wellness department,” recalls Tuitele. “The founders brought back some of the original people to develop a vision and ensure that we continue to be a resource for a more natural road to wellness.”