By early next month, Sprouts Farmers Market expects to have Instacart Pickup click-and-collect service in place at all of its more than 340 stores.

Phoenix-based Sprouts already offered online grocery pickup at 55 stores and grocery delivery in all of its major markets via Instacart. The specialty grocer said late yesterday that the expansion of pickup will begin at its stores in Los Angeles and central California.

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Beginning April 15, customers from Los Angeles to Fresno, Calif., are now able to schedule curbside pickup at 25 stores, Sprouts said.

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With Instacart Pickup, customers can shop from more than 12,000 fresh, natural and organic products at Sprouts.com/order and collect their orders at participating Sprouts stores.

The company noted that the extended pickup service comes as “an added convenience for shoppers during this incredible time of need.” Amid the coronavirus pandemic, many consumers have been wary of entering stores and have turned to online services to buy their groceries.

With Instacart Pickup, customers can shop from more than 12,000 fresh, natural and organic products at Sprouts.com/order and collect their orders at participating Sprouts stores. Users can pick up their groceries the same day or schedule pickup several days in advance, depending on availability, Sprouts said. When orders are ready, customers will receive an alert to come to the store, park in a designated spot and check in via their mobile phone. A Sprouts personal shopper then will bring the groceries to their vehicle.

Instacart Pickup made its debut at Sprouts stores in 2018 in select markets as the San Francisco-based online grocery specialist tested the same-day service ahead of a national rollout. As of May 2019, Sprouts was piloting pickup at 18 stores in six markets. That was expanded to another 10 stores in the Phoenix area last August.

Sprouts announced its partnership with Instacart in January 2018, starting with same-day delivery in select ZIP codes in Phoenix and Tucson, Ariz. In May 2018, the grocery chain discontinued Amazon Prime Now delivery service, which had been available through 17 stores. A bigger rollout of Instacart delivery came in March 2019, as Sprouts launched the service through its stores to more than 200 communities in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Overall, Sprouts operates stores in 23 states from coast to coast.