Beginning in 2008, the company name was phased to Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage to emphasize that groceries, rather than nutritional supplements, formed a majority of its sales.

[1] The company made its initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in July 2012, raising $107 million.

[5][6] In 2018, the company operated around 162 retail grocery stores in around 20 states, mainly west of the Mississippi River (except California),[7] and had approximately 3,000 employees.

[8] In 1955, Margaret and Philip Isely founded a door-to-door sales operation called the Builder's Foundation.

[13] In the 2010s, Natural Grocers stopped selling what they call "confinement dairy products", which includes milk from cows that aren't allowed to graze.