Chuck Pruett

Staff Photo by Lesley Onstott Charlene Gill picks out crackers with her daughter Lydia Jayden while shopping at Greenlife Grocery. Specialty grocery stores, such as Greenlife, have seen an increase in popularity.

Chuck Pruett was having trouble finding health food for his children at area grocery stores, so he responded by opening his own.

Greenlife Grocery, a health and organic specialty store, opened in 1999, before such venues were common, but Mr. Pruett said business has steadily boomed since opening.

“For the past 10 years, it has been double-digit growth,” he said.

As a result, Mr. Pruett opened a Greenlife in Asheville, N.C., and he moved the store in Chattanooga, from a 10,000-square-foot space in the Riverview shopping district to 30,000 square feet of space at Two North Shore.

Elizabeth Clark shopped at the local Greenlife store on Friday. She said she has been shopping at Greenlife since moving here seven years ago from Athens, Ga., where she shopped at an Earth Fare. Ms. Clark said her parents raised her as a vegetarian and on organic foods.

“It’s a lot healthier,” she said. “There are a lot of chemicals and a lot of questions about the other stuff.”

According to a study conducted by the Organic Trade Association, 73 percent of those surveyed said they have purchased at least some organic products in the past.

More than 30 percent of those are new organic buyers and have only purchased organic within the last two years, according to the survey.

Greenlife responded to the trend by adding a dietitian to its staff and will soon begin offering tours to consumers interested in learning how to shop for healthier products.

“People realize they have to take responsibility for their own health,” Mr. Pruett said.

Earth Fare, another all- organic health food grocery store, is taking advantage of the popularity of organic foods and scheduled to open its 17th store in the Target shopping center on Gunbarrel Road next month.

Troy DeGras, a spokesman for Earth Fare, said the Chattanooga store, which will employ about 100 people from the area, is the fourth store Earth Fare has opened this year

The organic grocer recently opened locations in Rock Hill, S.C., Johnson City, Tenn., and its second Knoxville location.

“Obviously, if we are opening stores in an economic recession, we are really seeing a growth in the number of people interested in a healthy diet,” he said.

Dorothy Carlow, communications director at Earth Fare, said the company is planning to open four more stores in 2010.

“People are not stopping their quest for healthy foods,” she said.

Traditional supermarkets have felt the pressure to increase their organic and healthy foods product offering as well, said Lorrie Griffith, editor of The Shelby Report, a food industry publication.

She said there always has been a contingent of consumers wanting organic foods for a variety of reasons.

“An aging population, made up of those who may be trying to address or prevent health issues through diet, is one factor,” Ms. Griffith said. “Another is the fact that there have been a number of food safety scares in recent years that have caused shoppers to look for products that have been raised or produced in what they view as a more trustworthy fashion.”

Officials at Publix have witnessed the increasing trend and reacted by carrying more all-natural or organic products, said Brenda Reid, a spokeswoman for the grocer.

Publix went a step further and developed its own natural, organic product line known as Greenwise Market. The supermarket chain also opened a couple Greenwise Market pilot stores in Florida.

Ms. Reid said the venture is a learning process.

“Once we understand and learn exactly what it is the customer wants we will begin rolling it out into our main stores,” she said.

Mr. Pruett said he believes the organic and healthy trend is here to stay.

“More people are learning where their food comes from and what it takes to get it to the table,” Mr. Pruett said. “They want to eat healthier food and a lot of the food out there, there is no nutritional value to it.”

Kristina Montague has shopped at Greenlife since the store opened 10 years ago.

She said her quest for locally grown produce led her to Greenlife, but like Mr. Pruett, she wanted a healthier diet for her kids.

“(Organic foods) don’t have things with chemicals and hormones in it, which studies have shown affect growth,” Ms. Montague said. “I’d rather pay a little more and know what I am getting is healthier.”