DTC Wellness Brand Apothékary Forges First Retail Partnership With Sprouts Farmers Market

Marking Apothékary‘s first retail partnership since its launch in 2020, the wellness brand is launching across Sprouts Farmers Market’s network of over 400 stores nationwide.

The natural grocer is carrying a selection of its tinctures, including Take the Edge Off, Wine Down and Rosé-Tinted Glasses, in its recently reinvented vitamin departments, now called “emotional health” sections. Two other tinctures, Blue Burn and Mindcraft, will sit in the digestive health section, and another, skin health-centered tincture Honest Youth, will be in the women’s health section. In October, Apothékary will be showcased in Sprouts’ end-caps. Its tinctures are priced at $38.99 each. 

Founder Shizu Okusa says Apothékary, which generated $5 million in revenues in its initial year on the market and has doubled its revenues every subsequent year, waited to embark on retail distribution until it could be certain it would be able to meet a retailer’s inventory needs. “For a long time we said no because we couldn’t even keep up with demand for our own DTC and even Amazon,” she explains. “You’ll look on our site, on Amazon, and a lot of products are sold out. We knew that we needed to be thoughtful about when we said yes.”

Prior to entering Sprouts, Apothékary surveyed its customers to discover where they get supplements. About 70% responded they primarily buy them online, but they head to health food stores when searching for new supplements. To determine which of such stores to place Apothékary, Okusa assessed retailers with locations in areas where the brand’s direct-to-consumer sales aren’t concentrated. A substantial portion of its customers are in New York, Florida and Texas, and Sprouts has locations in 23 states. The chain’s wellness assortment contains 7,500-plus wellness products. 

In July last year, Apothékary overhauled its entire product portfolio to move from mostly powder supplements, a format easier for nascent brands to develop, to targeted tinctures. The brand still offers six powders, also priced at $39, formulated to support sleep, immunity, energy, mental clarity and more, as well as eight tinctures for a myriad of benefits, from cognition to stress relief. Apothékary’s adaptogen-infused tincture Take the Edge Off, a white wine dupe that’s sold out repeatedly, is designed to be an alternative to the spirit. It’s Wine Down and Rosé Tinted Glasses herbal tinctures are also alcohol alternatives boosted with wellness benefits. Last year, the brand’s formulas were approved to be purchased using HSA/FSA funds.

Stress is a big reason why Apothékary’s customers flock to it. “Obviously, stress is not going away,” says Okusa. “If anything, I feel like post-COVID, it’s only accelerated, whether it’s geopolitical political stuff and elections, job changes with remote and not remote. A lot of the tailwinds that we’re facing are anchored again in how stress goes up in our bodies.” 

Aligned with consumers seeking the metabolic effects of GLP-1 medications, Apothékary’s berberine-infused weight loss tincture Blue Burn has been a huge hit. It was released in August, and the brand has already sold out of the 30,000 units created for Blue Burn’s first run. 

As wellness brands have shifted from DTC to omnichannel distribution and face challenges in beauty retail, natural grocers have become coveted retail partners. Natural grocery destinations like Erewhon, Pop Up Grocer and Happier Grocer feature extensive wellness selections and draw shoppers hunting for the latest in the category who are willing to pay a premium for better-for-you products addressing health holistically.

While Apothékary will focus its retail distribution energy on Sprouts for the next few months, Okusa teases it will be expanding to a large beauty retailer toward the end of the year. In advance of the retail push, the brand raised its first equity financing round earlier this year. In the round, Solidcore founder Anne Mahlum and Bonobos founder Andy Dunn joined existing investors Strand Equity, Trousdale Ventures and Venrex. To date, Apothékary has raised $13.5 million in equity and $4.25 million in debt financing.