Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Opens Stores in Concord and Vacaville Today; Makes Five Markets in Northern California


Tesco's Fresh & Easy in Northern California - 2011

United Kingdom-based Tesco opened two of its small-format Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market stores today in Northern California.

The two stores, in the East Bay Area city of Concord (at Clayton & Ygnacio Valley Road) and at 615 Elmira (Elmira & Nut Tree) in Vacaville, which is midway between the Bay Area and Sacramento, are Tesco's fourth and fifth Fresh & Easy markets in Northern California and the grocer's first in each of the two respective cities.

Both stores opened at 10 a.m. this morning and held grand opening celebrations all day.

Ryan Gizdich, the store manager at the Vacaville Fresh & Easy market, told Fresh & Easy Buzz that a good crowd of people showed up for the grand opening this morning and that business was steady for most of the day.

Another Fresh & Easy Buzz correspondent who was at the Concord opening reports that shoppers and the mere curious started flowing into the store when the doors were opened at 10 a.m.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy, which now has 169 stores in California, metropolitan Las Vegas, Nevada and metro Phoenix, Arizona, has so far this year opened five of its fresh food and grocery markets in California.

On Wednesday, March 2 the retailer opened two Fresh & Easy stores in the Bay Area cities of San Jose and Danville. Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market followed the openings up last Wednesday (March 9) by opening its store in Pacifica.

The Northern California store openings continue next Wednesday (March 23) when Fresh & Easy opens two stores - one at Ygnacio Valley Road & San Carlos Road in Walnut Creek, which is next door to Concord, and another unit at Oakdale Road & Lancey Drive in Modesto, which is in Stanislaus County in the Northern Central Valley. Modesto is a little over an hour's drive from Walnut Creek and Concord.

Following the two store openings on March 23, Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has four stores scheduled to open in April - one unit on April 13 and three stores on April 27. The stores, locations and opening dates are:

April 13th, 2011
>Rosewood Dr. & Santa Rita Rd., Pleasanton, California

April 27th, 2011
>Mission Blvd. & Rousseau St., Hayward, California
>Imola Ave. & Jefferson St., Napa, California
>Saratoga Ave. & Payne Ave., San Jose, California

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market CEO Tim Mason didn't make it to the Concord and Vacaville store openings today, like he did on March 2 when he opened the San Jose store in the Willow Glen Village shopping center, because he's currently at Tesco's global headquarters in the United Kingdom.

Mason, who this month was given the added title of Tesco group deputy CEO, reporting to new Tesco CEO Philip Clarke, also was given, in addition to his position running Fresh & Easy USA, a couple added responsibilities for Tesco's global operations. The two areas of responsibility are for Tesco's corporate branding and its climate change initiatives.

In addition to meetings with Tesco CEO Clarke, who took over in early March from Terry Leahy who retired, and others at UK corporate headquarters, We've learned Tim Mason met yesterday in London with representatives of three of Tesco's marketing/advertising/communications agencies - EHS, RBR and DHA - and today visited Tesco stores and those of its competitors, including a Sainsbury's supermarket in Stanway, UK.

Back in America, in the Northern California cities of Concord and Vacaville specifically, Tesco's Fresh & Easy held a variety of events throughout the day, as it does with all of its new store openings, to welcome shoppers to its two newest stores in the region. Those events included food sampling, music and in-store contests. Free reusable canvas shopping bags were also given to shoppers who bought $10 or more worth of groceries today.

Related Stories

March 15, 2011: San Francisco, Antioch and Fairfield Stores Next Up in Northern California For Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market

March 14, 2011: Opening of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store at 5800 Third Street in San Francisco Held Up Pending Approval of Liquor License

March 11, 2011: First Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Billboard Spotted in Northern California

March 9, 2011: Northern California Launch: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Opens Store in Pacifica Today

March 7, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, Superior Grocers, Mollie Stone's All Opening New Stores in California Wednesday

March 2, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Opens First Two Stores in Northern California Today

March 1, 2011: Two Years On: Tesco Opens First Two Northern California Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Tomorrow

February 14, 2011: First Look: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store in Northern California's Danville Set to Open on March 2

February 3, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Spokesman Confirms Our South-to-North Distribution Reports in Talk to Pacifica, California Group

December 27, 2010: First Look at the Pacifica, California Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store, One of the First Opening in Northern California in Early 2011

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