PHOENIX, AZ – Fresh Thyme Farmers Market has signed leases for two new Chicago-area stores as it prepares to move its headquarters to Downers Grove, Illinois from Phoenix, Arizona this spring.

Crain’s Chicago Business quotes Fresh Thyme President and CEO Chris Sherrell as saying that this headquarters move will allow the company to stay close to Midwestern markets, where it hopes to open 100 stores over the next six years. Those new stores would include 18 in Chicago and its suburbs.

The new headquarters switch is expected to be completed this spring and will bring roughly 100 corporate and management jobs to Downers Grove, and the new office will be 30,000 square feet. 

As for the new stores, Fresh Thyme signed a 15-year lease on a store in Chicago on Elston Avenue as well as a lease for a store in a former Dominick’s in Crystal Lake.

Speaking on the Elston store, Sherrell says that it will comprise 28,000 square feet and is expected to open by October 2015. “One main thing we looked at is just the rooftops, and population-wise this is probably our highest density (location) of all the stores we’ve signed to date,” he added.

The former Dominick’s is approximately 29,000 square feet, with an opening date that is to be determined.

Stay tuned to AndNowUKnow for the latest updates on Fresh Thyme's expansion plans.

Fresh Thyme Farmers Market