Natural Grocers opens store at Preston & Forest in Dallas on Tuesday

Fourth location in Texas will welcome natural-food guru Roy Beard at opening ceremony.

DALLAS — Roy's Natural Markets may be gone, but Roy Beard himself is coming back to Dallas one last time -- to literally "pass the torch" to Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage, a Colorado-owned independent grocery chain with a focus on making natural and organic products affordable. The new Natural Grocers store, its fourth Texas location, will be joined by Roy for its grand opening on August 31 in Dallas at Preston Forest Shopping Center, down the street from the old Roy's Natural Markets. Roy will also draw the winner for a free iPad, kicking off a week of BBQ, refreshments, giveaways, samples, and prizes.

"We are touched and delighted that Roy is coming back to Dallas for the opening of our store," said Kemper Isely, co-president of Natural Grocers. "As an independent, family-owned chain with high standards for quality, we feel we share some values. We feel obligated to honor this legacy, even as we're excited to be moving forward and introducing our store to the great folks in Dallas."

The August 31 grand opening will begin at 8 a.m., with giveaways and raffle prizes including a $500 shopping gift card to Natural Grocers, a George Foreman grill, GPS systems, Grind & Brew Automatic Coffee Maker, iPod, and more. Free chair massages, health, beauty, and nutrition, and vitamin coaching sessions will also be available. There will also be delicious foods to taste as well as numerous samples of supplements and body care products.

Natural Grocers currently has 15 local new employees and expects to add about 35 more eventually. The Colorado-based chain currently has 40 stores throughout Colorado, Texas, and New Mexico, with more stores to open in the near future.

The new store is located at 11661 Preston Road (the SW corner of the intersection between CVS and Ulta) and can be reached at 214-987-0000. The store's regular hours will be Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. - 8:04 p.m., Saturdays from 9 a.m. - 7:03 p.m., and Sundays from 10 a.m. - 6:06 p.m. The store will offer only organic produce, as well as natural and organic grocery products, free nutrition, and vitamin and supplement coaching sessions/education from trained nutritional coaches, and one of the world's largest selections of vitamins and supplements; as well as high quality bulk foods, home care, beauty, body care, books, pet and other products aimed at helping consumers live a healthy lifestyle at affordable prices.

Another important note for Dallas citizens new to Natural Grocers: The company made a decision on Earth Day 2008 to make all new stores plastic-bag free. A year later, on Earth Day 2009, Natural Grocers became 100% "shopping-bag free," with the full support of their customers. They do offer recycled boxes for shoppers' convenience, as well as several choices of recyclable cloth bags at a very low cost. Natural Grocers is perhaps the only grocery chain in the country to go completely shopping bag-free and hopes that other chains will soon follow. So be sure to B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Bag). Until you get the hang of it, they'll keep plenty of boxes handy. The store will be giving away a free re-usable bag with any purchase until September 26.

"We're excited about becoming part of the Dallas community and getting to know our customers," said Brandon Bevell, the Preston Forest store manager. "For healthy living, we are really a one-stop shopping experience."

Source: Natural Grocers