The economy may have soured some business plans. But for Scott Nash, things couldn't be better.
MOM's �My Organic Market, Nash's 23-year-old business, is planning a major expansion this year.
The Rockville-based grocer, which Nash describes as a cross between Whole Foods Market and Trader Joe's, plans to open two more stores by the end of the year. One will be in Greater Baltimore, and possibly the Timonium area where MOM's has signed a letter of intent for a new store. Nash declined to identify the location. The second store will likely be in Northern Virginia, he says.
Opening a new score costs MOM's anywhere between $500,000 to $1.5 million.
MOM's will be expanding its Columbia store from 8,000 to 10,000 square feet and its College Park store from 5,000 to 8,000 square feet in the next few months. Nash says the company is doing well in spite of the recession. One reason is that people are looking to save money by cooking meals at home. MOM's sells more produce, rather than prepared foods.
So in 2010, the company is going to take advantage of the good real estate deals and availability of labor.
"It's time to begin an aggressive expansion," Nash says.
The company just opened its sixth store in Bowie this month after seeing an untapped market. Having grown up in Prince George's County, Nash knows the area is often overlooked by the major chains, with no Trader Joe's or Whole Foods in the area. Bowie is also in between Annapolis and the Washington, D.C., beltway, making it a good location to draw customers from both areas, Nash says.
Located at the Hilltop Plaza shopping center, off Route 3, the Bowie store is also located at a busy intersection that gets a lot of traffic from the surrounding area, Nash says.
Source: Scott Nash, MOM's
Writer: Julekha Dash