Fresh Thyme sets opening for new stores in Westfield, Fishers

Fresh Thyme Farmers Market will open in Westfield and Fishers next month. The Phoenix-based specialty grocer will have new stores at 11481 E. 116th St. in Fishers and 3400 E. 146th St. in Westfield. Both will open Aug. 6 with a celebration starting at 7 a.m.

The new stores increase the number of Fresh Thyme locations to five in the Indianapolis area. The company is expected to open 60 new stores by 2019.

It’s known for having an expansive organic and natural food selection and describes itself as a cross between a farmer’s market and full-service grocery store.

The first Fresh Thyme in central Indiana opened about a year ago on U.S. 31 north of the Greenwood Park Mall. 

The area’s already competitive grocery market is becoming increasingly more crowded. Pittsburgh-based Giant Eagle Inc. is constructing a store in Carmel, Wal-Mart opened Neighborhood Market at 131st Street and Ind. 37 in Fishers last year and Cincinnati-based Kroger. Co. announced earlier this year it would spend $465 million to upgrade existing stores and construct new ones.

Kroger's plans include building a Kroger Marketplace on Olio Road in Fishers and a Fresh Fare on 116th Street and Michigan Road in Zionsville and expanding the stores on Rangeline Road in Carmel (already completed), 116th Street and Cumberland Road in Fishers and 161st Street in Westfield.

The Westfield Fresh Thyme in the Bridgewater Center at the northeast corner of 146th Street and Carey Road is less than two miles from Whole Foods and The Fresh Market that are both also on 146th Street.

The Fishers location is the anchor of a commercial development on 116th Street just east of Hoosier Road, and is about two miles from The Fresh Market and Kroger (that will soon be renovated) on 116th Street and Cumberland Road.