US natural food retailers merge to form 140-store chain

Two US natural food retailers say they will be better placed to compete with sector giants Whole Foods Market after announcing a merger.

On 9 March Sprouts Farmers Market and Sunflower Farmers Market – both grocery stores, not farmers markets – announced they would be pooling their store portfolios to create a 140-store strong chain. The merged company has sales of around $2 billion and10,000 employees.