Wild Oats, which reported net income of $3.1 million for therecently ended third quarter compared with only $82,000 in thethird quarter last year, said that the closings are the result of"an extensive financial review" of its store portfolio. The Henry'sclosings will include all of those stores in and around the Phoenixarea, including two stores in Gilbert and one each in Glendale,Peoria and Phoenix. The two Wild Oats stores in the Phoenix area,on Camelback Road and in Scottsdale, will remain open, and the WildOats brand "will be the company's focus for future growth in thePhoenix market," the company said.

The Wild Oats stores in other locations that will be closed onDec. 16 will be at Village Pointe Center in Omaha, NE; FortCollins, CO and West Jordan, UT.Wild Oats said that it anticipates"significant savings" from the store closings and will invest thesavings in the company's existing store base. The closings willnonetheless flow toward company's bottom line, resulting inapproximately $25.5 million in restructuring charges in the fourthquarter, plus operational costs of approximately $1.7 million.

The company will now focus Henry's growth in SouthernCalifornia. Wild Oats Chairman and Chief Executive Officer GregoryMays described Henry's as "a very compelling chain that fills aunique niche in the Southern California specialty foods market." Bycontrast, he said, "We believe that the Phoenix stores were notperforming at Henry's typically strong levels because of thefiercely competitive nature of the Phoenix food retail market, andthe fact that Henry's was a new entrant to Phoenix two years ago.Therefore, we have very little brand awareness in a crowdedmarket."