LONGMONT — Boulder-based Alfalfa’s Market Inc. is poised to take over the Longmont storefront previously occupied by Lucky’s Market. 

Alfalfa’s, which operates grocery stores in Boulder and Louisville, has applied for a sales-and-use application with the city, a document required for businesses to begin paying local taxes.

The document lists Alfalfa’s president Mark Homlish as the applicant.

The company confirmed its plans to BizWest Wednesday evening.

While the sales-and-use-tax application is a relatively bare-bones document, it does shed a bit of light on Alfalfa’s plans for the 23,000-square-foot site at 700 Ken Pratt Blvd.

The application indicates that Alfalfa’s intends to make certain changes to the building and specifically mentions the addition of a coffee bar. 

It also lists Sept. 1 as the anticipated date for the start of business operations. The company plans to hold a job fair in July and will hire as many as 75 new employees.

“Longmont is an amazing community steeped in history, with a rich and diverse culture. Our new design takes cues from this history and heritage while at the same providing a modern, safe and convenient shopping experience. We couldn’t be more thrilled to call Longmont our newest home.” Homlish said in an emailed statement. “It’s our goal to create a true neighborhood store, a place that serves as an inviting and welcoming gathering place for the local community.” 

Alfalfa’s said it will offer curbside pickup and delivery services at the Longmont location.

“In a very short period of time, the way we think and live has changed. We are responding with innovative ways to be a better grocer and community hub,” Homlish said. “We are excited about the opportunity to reinvent Alfalfa’s Market in a forward-looking and bold way, while providing good value to our customers and jobs to a community during this challenging time.”

Alfalfa’s, according to its website, was founded in 1983 and was acquired by Wild Oats Markets in 1996. In 2010, founder Mark Retzloff, Barney Feinblum and Hugo van Seenus resurrected the brand and reopened the original Boulder location under the Alfalfa’s banner. In 2017, Homlish, then a Denver-based investor and vice president of property management firm Lincoln Property Co., joined with then Alliance Bernstein Corp. vice president William Wall to buy a majority stake in the firm. 

According to a July 2019 report from the Highlands Ranch Herald, Alfalfa’s recently was eyeing a shuttered toy store in Centennial for its next expansion. As of last summer, there was no timeline for that expansion.

Lucky’s, founded in Boulder by Bo and Trish Sharon, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January and soon after began closing dozens of stores across the country, including the Longmont location. 

Kroger Co. (NYSE: KR), the Cincinnati-based parent of King Soopers and City Market stores in Colorado, invested in 2016 in Lucky’s to form a “strategic partnership” with the local chain. Bankruptcy filings show that Lucky’s owed $301 million to Kroger as of early 2020.

In March, Lucky’s sold off 23 store locations at a bankruptcy auction. The Longmont location was not among those. 

Blackfox Parkway Associates LLC remains the owner of the 700 Ken Pratt Blvd. retail space. 

“Blackfox Parkway Associates is looking forward to adding Alfalfa’s Market to our tenant line-up at Parkway Promenade,” Blackfox senior vice president Carter Davis said in a statement. “Alfalfa’s is an institution in the Colorado community as a store with the highest standards of products, quality and offerings as well as being a market space for others in the community.  Alfalfa’s local, community-driven approach will be complementary to the other quality local retailers in the center.” 

© 2020 BizWest Media LLC