Friday, November 12, 2010

Postponed But Not Abandoned: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Gearing Up For Northern California Launch


Northern California Market Special Report

After postponing its Northern California launch multiple times since announcing in January and February 2008 its plans to open 37 stores in the region, Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is gearing up to open its first batch of stores in the San Francisco Bay Area and nearby Modesto in early 2011. [See - January 30, 2008: Fresh & Easy Goes On the Record: Announces 18 Northern California Stores in the Bay Area; and February 28, 2008: News & Analysis: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Confirms 19 Store Locations for the Sacramento-Vacaville Region in Northern California.]

El Segundo (Southern) California-based Fresh & Easy announced in a press release on Wednesday (November 10) that it's in the process of hiring workers for 12 stores that are set to open early next year in Northern California, saying the stores are among the first the grocer plans to open in the San Francisco Bay Area and Modesto, which is in nearby Stanislaus County, in the Northern Central Valley. Fresh & Easy added in the announcement it expects to hire more than 275 employees for the stores.

Fresh & Easy doesn't mention it in its press release, but the positions it's currently hiring for are store managers and team leaders (assistant managers), as we've previously reported. The job listings are on the grocer's website, along with being advertised on various online job boards.

The 12 stores Fresh & Easy says it's currently hiring for are:

• Concord - Clayton Rd. & Ygnacio Valley Rd.
• Danville - Diablo Blvd. & Hwy. 680
Hayward - Mission Blvd. & Rousseau St.
• Modesto - Oakdale Rd. & Lancey Dr.
Napa - Imola Ave. & Jefferson St.
• Pacifica - Cabrillo Hwy. & Linda Mar Blvd.
Pleasanton - Rosewood Dr. & Santa Rita Rd.
San Francisco - 32nd Ave. & Clement St.
• San Jose - Bird Ave. & Minnesota Ave.
San Jose - Saratoga Ave. & Payne Ave.
• Vacaville - Elmira Rd. & Nut Tree - Vacaville Rd.
• Walnut Creek - Ygnacio Valley Rd. & San Carlos Rd.

Background

On August 19, 2010 Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market announced it planned to open eight Fresh & Easy markets in Northern California in early 2011. [See our August 19, 2010 story: Tesco Will Open its First Eight Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores in Northern California in 'Early 2011; and our August 21, 2010 piece: April 2010 Prediction Correct: February 2011 Target to Open First Eight Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores in Northern California for details.]

The eight stores announced on August 19 are:

San Francisco - Third St. & Carroll Ave.
• San Jose - Bird Ave. & Minnesota Ave.
• Danville - Diablo Blvd & Hwy 680
• Pacifica - Cabrillo Hwy. & Linda Mar Blvd.
• Vacaville - Elmira Rd. & Nut Tree Rd.
• Modesto - Oakdale Rd. & Lancey Dr.
• Walnut Creek - Ygnacio Valley Rd. & San Carlos Dr.
• Concord - Clayton Rd. & Ygnacio Valley Rd.

If you compare the 12 stores listed at top announced on November 10 and the eight stores above (August 19 announcement), you'll see there's one store (in green) - 3rd Street & Carroll/San Francisco - missing on Fresh & Easy's November 10, 2010 list.

Additionally, there are five stores (highlighted in green at top) that have been added (in the Wednesday announcement) for early 2011 openings (since the August 19 announcement). Those five stores are:

• San Francisco - 32nd Ave. & Clement St.
• Napa - Imola Ave. & Jefferson St.
• Pleasanton - Rosewood Dr. & Santa Rita Rd.
• San Jose - Saratoga Ave. & Payne Ave.
• Hayward - Mission Blvd. & Rousseau St.

Five additional stores confirm our reports

In other words, the November 10 announcement by Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is the first official confirmation that it plans to open the five additional stores in early 2011.

We say "confirmation" rather than "announcement" because if you're a Fresh & Easy Buzz reader, you learned prior to Wednesday that Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market planned to open those five additional Northern California Fresh & Easy markets in early 2011.

>We reported on the Napa store on September 14, 2010 in this story: Eight Plus One: Napa Unit Added to Eight Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Opening in Northern CA in Early 2011.

>We then reported that the 32nd & Clement Fresh & Easy market would open in early 2011 a week later in this story - September 22, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Plans to Open Two Additional Stores in Northern California in Early 2011.

>And on November 5 we reported Fresh & Easy plans to open the Pleasanton (Santa Rita Road & Rosewood Drive), Hayward (Mission Boulevard & Rousseau Street) and San Jose (Saratoga Avenue & Payne Avenue) units early next year. Read the story here: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Queuing Up Three Additional Stores in Northern California For Early-to-Mid 2011 Openings.

Fourteen stores set for early 2011 opening so far

Regarding the Third Street & Carroll Avenue/San Francisco Fresh & Easy store not being included in the grocery chain's November 10 announcement, Wednesday's press release from Fresh & Easy focuses on the stores the grocer is currently hiring for rather than being a list of all stores it's planning to open in early 2011. Therefore, it's possible the grocer has already hired the manager and team leader for the store. For example, we are aware first-hand of at least two existing company employees who've already interviewed for the store manager and team leader positions.

According to our current information, Fresh & Easy still plans to open the store, which is at 5800 Third Street, in early 2011 - as early as mid-February but no later than April.

Sunnyvale

In our September 22, 2010 story - Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Plans to Open Two Additional Stores in Northern California in Early 2011 - we reported that Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market added the store at Tasman Drive and Fair Oaks Avenue in the South Bay Area city of Sunnyvale to the growing fist batch of Northern California stores it plans to open in early 2011.

The Sunnyvale store isn't listed in the grocer's November 10 press release. However, based on the information we have a present, Fresh & Easy still plans to open the unit in early 2011. We define early 2011 as January-April.

Therefore, based on our reporting, the grocer is currently looking to open 14 Fresh & Easy stores in early 2011.

Early 2011 openings

In terms of the "early 2011" store openings, we've said often that opening months are fluid and dynamic at Tesco's Fresh & Easy, although our sources tell us they're becoming less so as 2010 comes to an end, which is why when you read over our past reports and stories you'll see we frequently mention that fact.

Right now, based on the best information we have (and remember it's fluid and dynamic), the first few of the 12 Fresh & Easy stores won't likely open until mid-February -to- early-March 2011.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy began searching for managers for its first batch of Northern California stores set to open in early 2011, as we reported in this July 29, 2010 story: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Putting Together List of Managers Interested in Transferring to Northern California. Note that our report was weeks before the grocer announced on August 19 its plans to open stores in Northern California early next year.

Fresh & Easy Buzz broke the news that the grocery chain would announce those plans in this June 26, 2010 story: Tesco Planning to Announce in July When First Northern California Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores to Open. Tesco's Fresh & Easy made the announcement on August 19 rather than before the end of July, as we reported.

However, as we said above and here, Northern California store opening dates have always been and still are fluid and dynamic at Fresh & Easy. After all, the grocer originally planned to start opening stores in the region in early 2009. [Also see - April 2010: Tesco Debating Whether to Launch Fresh & Easy Into Northern California This Fiscal Year... or Wait.]

Fresh & Easy started advertising for store managers for the original eight stores announced on August 19 not long after the announcement was made. The grocer started advertising for team leader (assistant manager) and other store-level positions recently, ahead of Wednesday's press release.

As we've been reporting since May, Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has been acquiring new, future store locations in Northern California at a rapid pace. See the linked stories bulleted below for some of those new locations:

>May 29, 2010: Going Rural: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to Build First Store in Los Banos, California

>August 25, 2010: Going Rural: New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store Planned for Sutter Creek in Northern California

>September 22, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Planning A New, Third Store in San Jose, California (This is the San Jose/Saratoga Ave. & Payne Ave. store set to open in early 2011, along with the others. It's the most recently acquired unit out of the 12.)

>October 26, 2010: Going Semi-Rural: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Buys Property For New Store in Northern California Town of Clear Lake

>November 1, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Planning to Build its First Store in Northern California City of Brentwood

California hear we come - again

Looking to early 2011, in addition to its Northern California launch, Tesco's Fresh & Easy has announced plans to open 10 new stores in Southern California. The first of the 10 stores opens on January 12, 2011. Eight stores are set to open in February, with the last of the 10 stores scheduled to open on March 30. [See - November 4, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Confirms Our October Reports On 10 New Stores Opening in Early 2011

We first broke the news about Fresh & Easy's plans to open the 10 stores in Southern California in early 2011 in an October 17, 2010 story: No Additional New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Set to Open This Year; Ten New Units Planned For January 2011. We then followed the report up with an October 25 story - Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to Open 10 New Stores in 10 Southern California Cities in January-February 2011 - in which we named the 10 Southern California cities where the 10 new stores would be located.

On November 4, 2010 Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market confirmed our reporting, announcing in a press release it plans to open the 10 new stores in Southern California in early 2011, along with listing the addresses of the stores, which are in the cities we named on October 25. See our November 4, 2010 story: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Confirms Our October Reports On 10 New Stores Opening in Early 2011.

As Tesco's Fresh & Easy, which operates 155 stores in California, Nevada and Arizona, prepares for the holiday 2010 shopping season - Thanksgiving and Christmas are the two leading shopping holidays for U.S. grocers - and looks to early and mid-2011, a time when the focus of its new store opening action is in California, the name of it's theme song is obvious: 'California here we come, right back where we started from.' After all, the first batch of Fresh & Easy fresh food and grocery markets - where and when it started - opened in Southern California in November 2007.

Linkage Below: The Fresh & Easy Buzz 2010 'Northern California Market Region Special Report' Series

November 8, 2010 - Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's '5800 Third Street' Northern California 'Flagship' Store in San Francisco is Taking Shape

November 5, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Queuing Up Three Additional Stores in Northern California For Early-to-Mid 2011 Openings

November 3, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Plans New Store in Northern Central Valley, California City of Ceres

November 1, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Planning to Build its First Store in Northern California City of Brentwood

October 30, 2010: Raley's Launches New 'Raley's TO GO' Pre-Packaged, Refrigerated Fresh-Prepared Foods Line

October 27, 2010: Save Mart CEO Bob Piccinini Poised to Make it to the 'Bigs' as Member of Golden State Warriors' Ownership Group

September 26, 2010: While Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Postponed, Target Opened 42 'P-Fresh' Fresh Food and Grocery Markets in Northern California

September 22, 2010: Sunflower Makes Three: Sunflower Farmers Market's First Northern California Store Will Be in Roseville

September 22, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Planning A New, Third Store in San Jose, California

September 22, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Plans to Open Two Additional Stores in Northern California in Early 2011

September 21, 2010: A Look Inside Whole Foods Market's Newest Store, A Mall Location in Santa Rosa, California

September 20, 2010: About Today's Walmart Stores, Inc. Smaller Stores Media Frenzy: We Scooped it On July 6, 2010

September 19, 2010: Whole Foods Market Gives Itself A 30th Birthday Present: 299th Store Opens This Week in Santa Rosa, California

September 18, 2010: Keep On Truckin' - Whole Foods Market Celebrates 30 Years This Weekend

September 14, 2010: Eight Plus One: Napa Unit Added to Eight Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Opening in Northern CA in Early 2011

September 5, 2010: BevMo Chain Ends Full Time Employment For Store Workers; They Say No Way and Join With UFCW Union to Demand 'A Better BevMo'

September 3, 2010: How the California Grocers Association and its Members Can Snatch Victory From the Jaws of the Defeat of California's Plastic Bag Ban

August 25, 2010: Going Rural: New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store Planned for Sutter Creek in Northern California

August 23, 2010: Hybrid 'Good Eats' Market-Cafe From Raley's CEO Michael Teel & Company Opens Today in Sacramento CA

August 22, 2010: The Insider: Challenges & Opportunities: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Will Supply its Northern CA Stores From its Riverside County DC in Southern CA

August 21, 2010: April 2010 Prediction Correct: February 2011 Target to Open First Eight Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores in Northern California

August 19, 2010: Tesco Will Open its First Eight Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores in Northern California in 'Early 2011.'

August 17, 2010: Henry's Farmers Market 'Beats' Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to Northern California Despite Multi-Year Head Start; Elk Grove Store Opens Tomorrow

July 29, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Putting Together List of Managers Interested in Transferring to Northern California

July 25, 2010: Safeway to Start Construction on New Pleasanton, California Flagship Store Soon; Thanksgiving 2011 Target Opening

July 22, 2010: 'The Insider' - After Four Years in the High Weeds in Northern & Central California, Kroger Co. is Emerging to Grow its Foods Co Chain

July 21, 2010: Vacant Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store in Pacifica, California Has the City's Mayor in a Pickle

July 18, 2010: 'The Insider' - When it Comes to Northern California - its Competitors are Rome Burning and Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is Nero Playing the Fiddle

July 14, 2010: Tony Bennett Has Nothing on Whole Foods Market When it Comes to Loving San Francisco...That City By the Bay

July 6, 2010: Walmart Looking for Store Sites in Northern California For 20,000 Sq-Ft Neighborhood Market by Walmart Prototype Store

June 28, 2010: Smart & Final to Open its New Format SmartCo Foods Stores in California and Arizona

June 26, 2010: Tesco Planning to Announce in July When First Northern California Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores to Open

June 14, 2010: Newly-Named Whole Foods Market CO-CEO Walter Robb Comes Full Circle With the Opening of the New Store in Mill Valley CA

June 5, 2010: Sprouts Farmers Market Opens First Northern California Store in Sunnyvale; Strikes Up Partnership With Local Non-Profit Farm

May 29, 2010: Going Rural: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to Build First Store in Los Banos, California

May 28, 2010: First Phase of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market-Anchored Condo Development in San Francisco's Bayview Set For Completion in June

May 9, 2010: A Whopping 15 of Whole Foods Market's 41 New Stores in Development are in California - And Nine of The 15 Are In Northern CA

May 8, 2010: Sprouts, and Likely Henry's to Beat Fresh & Easy to Northern California Despite it's Big Head Start

May 6, 2010: Going Smaller & Getting 'Hybrid': Walmart's Smaller Supercenter in Vacant Retail Buildings Strategy Began in 2008

April 19, 2010: Tesco Debating Whether to Launch Fresh & Easy Into Northern California This Fiscal Year... or Wait

[Also: click here , here and here for a selection of past stories on Fresh & Easy and Northern Calfornia.]

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