Chicago-Area Whole Foods Among 9 Closing Across Country

A Chicago-area Whole Foods is among nine locations closing by April.

The South Evanston store, located at 1111 Chicago Ave., will close along on March 19, Evanston Ald. Melissa Wynne announced in a newsletter. Eight other locations across the United States will close by April.

There are 440 Whole Foods stores in the country, according to the report, that might be facing a lack of growth due to more competition in the organic-food market niche.

The grocery chain announced the closings Wednesday.

"We're going to continue to grow, but I think we're going to be a more disciplined growth company than we have been in the past," John Mackey, co-founder and CEO of Whole Foods, told analysts on the company's first-quarter earnings call, according to CNBC.

Mackey added the retailer remains "optimistic about the future growth potential for our 365 format but we want to see how this next round of stores perform before getting more aggressive."

The other stores which will reportedly close by April are: