Planet Organic markets in Edmonton and the rest of Canada are going through a rough patch.

Shelfs at the locations on Jasper Avenue and off Whyte Avenue have been nearly empty for the past two weeks, forcing customers to leave empty handed.

“I was here last week,” Robindra Mohar told CTV Edmonton. “I came to get basic things like water, fruits, and vegetables, but I couldn’t get it. I had to go down the street to get produce.”

 

The parent company of Planet Organic, Natural Markets Food Group owns two other companies in the United States: Mrs. Green’s Natural Market and Richtree Natural Market Restaurants. This month, three Mrs. Green’s locations were forced to shut down.

A Natural Markets Food Group spokesperson admitted that the company is “facing significant supply challenges,” but did not want to reveal the cause of the issue.

“I’m not going to get into the details of the logistical and supply challenges,” John Collins said. “It suffices to say that there are. I think the lack of products in the store is the result of that but store leadership is working to solve that.”

But despite efforts to restore food on the shelves and faith in their customer base, frustrated regulars are not hopeful that a fix is on the way.

“They keep on telling us that they’re going to get stock soon,” Victoria Korzeniowski said, “but it’s been a while and it doesn’t look any more stocked than it was a week ago. It just looks worse and worse.”

With files from Angela Jung