Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Hits (and Breaks) the 100-Store Mark in California With Today's Openings

United Kingdom-based Tesco today opened the first four of its nine Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market stores opening this month, in what we're calling the grocer's 'Big Bang' September new store opening month. Today's openings make it 102 stores for the grocer in California and 163 units in total.

See our story from yesterday - September 7, 2010: 'Big Bang' September: First Four of Nine New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Opening on September 8.

The four Fresh & Easy stores that opened today are all in Southern California, at the following locations:

>Hubbard St. & Gladstone Ave., Sylmar, Southern California
>Rosemead Blvd. & Valley Blvd., Rosemead, Southern California
>Rose Ave. & Gonzales Rd., Oxnard, Southern California Coast
>Cherry Ave. & 25th St., Signal Hill, Southern California

Sylmar store gets 'store 100' honor

Tesco's El Segundo, California-based Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market designated its new store in Sylmar as its 100th California store.

Prior to today, Tesco operated 98 of its 159 fresh food and grocery stores in California. The opening of the four new stores today brings the total number of units in California to 102. The overall store count is now 163.

The majority of the 102 California stores are in Southern California. The others are in the Bakersfield and Fresno Metropolitan regions in the Central Valley.

There are 34 Fresh & Easy markets in Metro Phoenix, Arizona, and 27 units in the Las Vegas, Nevada Metropolitan region.

Rosemead first in chain to feature "greener' refrigeration system

The Fresh & Easy store opened today in Rosemead, California is the grocery chain's first to earn GreenChill Certification. The store earned that "green" rating because of its naturally occurring carbon dioxide (CO2) refrigeration system, a first for any of the Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market stores.

It's estimated such systems reduce the impact of an average grocery store's refrigeration useage on the ozone layer by about 70%, as compared to current industry standards.

The Rosemead Fresh & Easy market has also earned a silver certification award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) GreenChill Partnership, for meeting certain key benchmarks for cutting emissions that harm the earth's protective ozone layer and contribute to global warming.

The store's system was designed and built by Kysor/Warren. Source Refrigeration & HVAC, Inc., did the engineering and installation. Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's energy-useage management partner, Verisae, provided an energy management system that's being used to control the CO2 Refrigeration System, and its software is being used to help Tesco's Fresh & Easy track energy use and operating costs, according to the grocery chain.

The installation of the system is a part of Fresh & Easy's 'green grocer' strategy and program, along with being one of the many energy conservation measures the chain has been and is implementing in order to save money on the cost side of the balance sheet over time.

More new stores coming

Next Wednesday, September 15, two more new Fresh & Easy stores will open, both in the Fresno region in California's Central Valley. The stores are at: Cedar Ave. & Shields Ave., in Fresno, and Herndon Ave. & Fowler Ave., in next door Clovis.

On September 22, the remaining three of the nine new stores are set to open.

Those stores, all in the Metro San Diego region in Southern California, are at:

>32nd St. & University Ave., San Diego, California
>River Rd. & College Blvd., Oceanside, California
>College Blvd. & Oceanside Blvd., Oceanside, California

The September 22 openings will mark the end of 'Big Bang' September for Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market. But not the end of new store openings for 2010.

October 2010 openings

The grocer hasn't yet announced any new store openings for October.

However, according to our sources, thus far three new stores are set to open in October. New store opening decisions are a moving target at Tesco's Fresh & Easy. Therefore, our number is as of today, and could change in the upward direction before an October new store opening announcement is made by Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.

Recent related stories:

September 7, 2010: 'Big Bang' September: First Four of Nine New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Opening on September 8

July 14, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Confirms Our June 25 Report it Will Open Nine New Stores in September 2010

June 25, 2010: A Four Month Pause: No New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Set to Open Until September 2010

June 1, 2010: No New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Likely This Month

May 1, 2010: No New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Set to Open This Month

March 30, 2010: Tesco Set to Open 11 New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores in April

March 29, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Set to Hit 150-Plus Store-Count Mark on April 7

March 16, 2010: A New Fresh & Easy Store Opens in Las Vegas Tomorrow on St. Patrick's Day; Will Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy's Proud Irish Eyes Be Smiling?

March 7, 2010: Three New Fresh & Easy Stores Opening This Month; First Opening March 10 in Palm Springs, California

January 27, 2010: February New Store Opening 'Big Bang' For Tesco's Fresh & Easy; Nine New Stores So Far

February 24, 2010: Fresh & Easy Store Opens its Doors in South Los Angeles

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