Sunflower Market figuring out niche, opening new stores

FORT COLLINS – When he was head of the health-food grocery Wild Oats, Mike Gilliland would show up at stores dressed in an apron and ready to work. He would stock produce, move dairy crates – whatever it took to help his employees.

“He’d work alongside us and ask a lot of questions,´ said Peter Waldmann, who started as a dairy clerk at a Wild Oats in Santa Fe, N.M., and moved his way up to store manager. “People have always been really important to Mike. He’s always led with his heart.”

Gilliland is now chief executive officer of Sunflower Farmers Market,…