The empty building at Poplar and S. Perkins, where Kroger closed in March, may be the site for a planned Sprouts Farmers Market. (By Thomas Bailey/The Commercial Appeal)

SHARE A Sprouts Farmers Market, like this one that opened in Lakeland in May, could be planned for East Memphis. (Stan Carroll/The Commercial Appeal)

By Thomas Bailey Jr. of The Commercial Appeal

An Arizona retail consultant is considering the empty Kroger at Poplar Avenue and Perkins Road for a potential supermarket.

The Office of Planning and Development received an email on Sept. 1 from a firm named Fitch asking about the local approval process involved for adapting the vacant East Memphis space for a grocery.

Fitch describes itself as a leading consultant for Arizona-based Sprouts Farmers Markets’ national expansion.

"We are the natural food grocer's primary architects and prototype designers, rolling out ambitious expansion in the United States, as it has market leader Wholefoods in its sights,'' Fitch’s website states.

Fitch and Sprouts officials declined Thursday to speak about the prominent location at 567 S. Perkins Road vacated by Kroger.

"All I can say honestly is I can’t comment. They don’t allow us to comment on anything,'' Fitch official Eric Harris told The Commercial Appeal.

Harris' name appears on the email sent to local planning officials. "We are working on a proposed grocery store at the above intersection and have some process questions,” the email says.

Attracting the grocer would continue the upgrades in the Poplar Avenue corridor. Nearby, a Nordstrom Rack is going into the former Sears site, Whole Foods has renovated its store, and Clark Tower’s owners are renovating the skyscraper and planning landscape improvements.

Kroger closed its store in March. The grocer has two larger locations nearby and is spending more than $100 million renovating and expanding its sites in the Mid-South.

Fitch's office in Phoenix has worked with Phoenix-based Sprouts more than 10 years and "has been responsible for" 90 percent of the nearly 200 Sprouts stores that have opened in the past 10 years, according to fitch.com.

The plan is to open at least 1,000 more over the next 15 years, according to the Fitch website.

Two of those new Sprouts have recently opened locally, but neither inside Memphis city limits.

A 28,000-square-foot Sprouts at 9050 U.S. 64 in Lakeland, the first Sprouts in Tennessee, opened in May. Another opened in July at 3150 Village Shops in Germantown.

The groceries employ about 100 people each.

The commercial real estate broker for the East Memphis property, Danny Buring of The Shopping Center Group, declined to comment.

The Fitch email to local government planners stated, "We are looking at modifying and upgrading the building exterior.''

Sprouts describes itself as offering low prices on fresh produce, bulk foods, vitamins and supplements, groceries, natural body care products and household goods.