Ann’s Natural Grocery & Nutrition Celebrates with Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony at 101 Center in Downtown Arlington

By Susan Schrock, Office of Communication

Posted on May 26, 2022, May 26, 2022

Downtown Arlington offers a new place where residents and visitors can stop in to pick up organic fruit and vegetables, vitamins and supplements, beauty and hygiene products and much more.

City, community and Greater Arlington Chamber of Commerce leaders gathered Thursday, May 26 for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of Ann’s Natural Grocery & Nutrition on the ground floor of 101 Center Street. The store officially opened its doors on April 8.

The store is named for owner and CEO Matt Munchrath’s mother, who learned about the value of healthy eating and lifestyle changes in the 1970s while caring for her own mother, who was suffering severe health effects from Type 1 Diabetes. Ann began working at a health food store in 1973 and gained a reputation in nutritional circles as a champion in fighting diabetes. That passion led her and her family to open their first location in Dallas in 1984 to help people improve their health through proper diet, lifestyle and supplementation. Today, Arlington is the company’s fifth location, with three other stores in Dallas and one in Waxahatchie.

“Food is a medicine and you can eat your way and drink your way to good health,” Matt Munchrath said. “We work with a specialty diet, but we work with everybody’s taste buds because we want everyone to be happy with what they put in their body. Just because its healthy doesn’t mean it has to taste bad.”

Arlington Mayor Jim Ross said Ann’s Natural Grocery & Nutrition is filling a long-time need. One of the key findings in the Downtown Master Plan, adopted in 2018, was for an urban grocery store in Downtown to serve UTA students and growing resident population in the heart of the city.

“We are so excited to have Ann’s grocery here,” Ross said. “We have been needing an urban grocery store in Downtown Arlington for years and years so that the residents who live and work here don’t have to drive somewhere else to do their shopping. We are working to create a Downtown environment where you can live, work, eat and play without ever having to get into your car.”

That sentiment was echoed by Downtown Arlington President and CEO Maggie Campbell.

“We are so excited to have this neighborhood-serving market right here in the heart of downtown. Ann’s Grocery is a great addition to our street-level experience, and helps serve our nearby residents and employees with fresh food and a family-run business,” Campbell said. “We welcome Ann’s and their team to our growing downtown neighborhood!”