Earth Fare, a North Carolina-based organic grocery chain, announced Monday that it will be closing all of its stores.

The full-service supermarket that specialized in natural products will begin inventory liquidation sales immediately.

The company said all employees have been notified of the upcoming closure.

“Earth Fare has been proud to serve the natural and organic grocery market, and the decision to begin the process of closing our stores was not entered into lightly. We’d like to thank our Team Members for their commitment and dedication to serving our customers, and our vendors and suppliers for their partnership,” Earth Fare said in a news release.

The release said the company has been working to grow and expand but “continued challenges in the retail industry” hurt the company’s progress and kept it from refinancing its debt.

“As a result, Earth Fare is not in a financial position to continue to operate on a go-forward basis. As such, we have made the difficult, but necessary decision to commence inventory liquidation sales while we continue to engage in a process to find potential suitors for our stores,” the release said.

The inventory liquidation sales will feature an assortment of merchandise at significantly reduced prices, the company said.

“We encourage shoppers to visit their nearby location now and take advantage of these savings before it’s too late," Earth Fare said.

Store fixtures are also available for sale as part of this process.

Earth Fare has three stores in the Jacksonville area: