Green Grocer in Dallas will be selling out its inventory this week, ending its three-year run. Photo courtesy of Facebook.com/GreenGrocerDallas.

Jan. 13, 2016

Green Grocer in Dallas will be closing its doors Jan. 18, the owners announced in a Facebook post on Sunday. In a letter to patrons, owners Cassie Green and Gary Stephens said they were not able to make the business profitable. 

The store, which specialized in stocking nearly exclusively organic foods, local produce when possible and no GMOs, will be selling out their inventory with sales throughout the week. The business will open daily from noon to 7 p.m.

While the news disappointed fans, it was not unexpected. Last June, the owners of the store, had warned customers that they would have to close if sales didn’t increase. During the summer, business increased for a few months in response. However, the bump in profits wasn't sustained, according to Green.

Green Grocer joins a growing list of local green businesses that were forced to close in recent years. Green Living, a green home improvement store in Dallas, closed in 2014. The Greener Good, a green housewares and apparel store in Fort Worth, closed in 2013. Meanwhile, the owners of the Dallas food co-op Urban Acres announced they had sold to Farmhouse Delivery in December, after shuttering their storefront in Oak Cliff in August.

Green said she and her husband are at peace with the decision after struggling to keep the business afloat since opening in January 2013. For three years, the couple had foregone salaries, relying on their Chicago store for income.

Green and Stephens will continue to operate their organic food store in Chicago, which they opened prior to launching the Dallas venue. Also the pair has a new “health/wealth venture on the horizon,” they said in a letter.

Gecko Hardware store owner Andrea Ridout, who launched a GoFundMe campaign last year after her store sales drooped during the rainy spring, said she was saddened to learn that Green Grocer was ceasing operations after they'd relocated to Dallas from Chicago to start the business. 

“It’s a heartbreaker.” 

Cassie Green and Gary Stephens in happier times shortly after the store launched in 2013. Photo by Phillip Shinoda.

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