MaMa Jean’s consolidating, moving stores

MaMa Jean’s Natural Foods Market LLC plans to relocate its flagship South Campbell Avenue store and consolidate the 4-year-old MJ’s Market and Deli into its operations.

Co-owner Susie Farbin said the MaMa Jean’s store at 1727 S. Campbell Ave. will move less than a mile down the road to Sunshine Corners, which is across the street from Bass Pro Shops. The company signed a lease for undisclosed terms to occupy 14,400 square feet, Farbin said, noting the store is taking over spaces that formerly housed Team Fusion martial arts and Michaels Arts & Crafts.

MJ’s Market and Deli — a fresh-food concept launched in July 2016 — will stop doing business at 900 E. Battlefield Road, Ste. 140, in Battlefield Market Place. Instead, MJ’s Market will serve as the deli operation inside the new store in Sunshine Corners, she said. A news release issued this morning referred to the changes as a combination of MaMa Jean’s Campbell Avenue store with MJ’s.

“There’s challenges with brick and mortar, as everybody knows over the past few years. The face of retail is changing,” Farbin said, noting MJ’s “didn’t get the traffic in the front of the house that we would have liked to have had.”

Farbin said the current Campbell Avenue store is “at capacity” for parking and is a difficult site for truck deliveries. The store is around 11,000 square feet, she said.

At Sunshine Corners, Farbin said 3,000 square feet would be used for a production kitchen, which would not have been doable at the current location. Estimating the investment for the new store at $300,000, she said the grocer also will add outdoor seating.

The South Campbell Avenue store is MaMa Jean’s first, having opened in 2002. Farbin said there will be no changes at the company’s 1110 E. Republic Road and 3530 E. Sunshine St. stores. MaMa Jean’s must vacate the current South Campbell store by Nov. 1, she said.