Click-and-collect groceries: Sprouts to test curbside pickup

Sprouts plans to test curbside grocery pickup, following bigger chains like Walmart and Kroger that have been expanding the service as a way to make shopping more convenient and boost sales.

CEO Amin Maredia said Wednesday the tests will occur in the next few months, but declined to specify where. Phoenix-based Sprouts Farmers Market Inc. has more than 300 stores around the country.

Grocers and Amazon-owned Whole Foods have been rolling out the service, in which groceries are ordered online and picked up at the store. Target recently said it's reduced the curbside wait time to 2 minutes.

Maredia says Sprouts won't need to make big changes to its stores since newer ones have a flexible space that can be used for the pickups.