Work Begins Inside 5800 Third Street Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store in San Francisco's Bayview

Tesco's Fresh & Easy in Northern California - 2011
Breaking Buzz

A construction crew has started work inside the future Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market store (pictured at top) in the 5800 Third Street condominium development (Third Street and Carroll Avenue) in San Francisco's Bayview District. (See the March 14 story linked below for photographs of the store's interior.)

At present, workers are digging up the cement floor with jackhammers and laying pipe and conduit for the electrical lines. Once the infrastructure work is completed the crew will paint the walls in the Fresh & Easy decor package, install refrigeration and freezer cases, along with the shelving and checkout-stands, and then complete the finishing touches inside the store.

As we reported in this story last month - March 14, 2011: Opening of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store at 5800 Third Street in San Francisco Held Up Pending Approval of Liquor License - work inside the building (the store's physical address is 5900 Third Street) has been held up pending approval of a liquor license at the location, which Tesco's Fresh & Easy originally planned to open earlier this year as one of its first stores in Northern California. [See -December 14, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to Open 5800 Third Street 'Flagship' Store in San Francisco Later in 2011 Than Originally Announced.]

The start of work inside the Third Street and Carroll Avenue store signals that approval has come.

To date Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has opened seven stores in Northern California.

Four more stores are set to open this month in the cities of Pleasanton (Rosewood Dr. & Santa Rita Rd.; on April 13), Hayward (Mission Blvd. & Rousseau St.), Napa (Imola Ave. & Jefferson St.) and San Jose (all three on April 27).

The San Jose store opening on April 27 is at Saratoga Avenue and Payne Avenue and will be the grocer's second unit in the city.

One of the first two stores Tesco's Fresh & Easy opened in Northern California is the unit at Bird Avenue and Minnesota Avenue in San Jose, which opened March 2. The Fresh & Easy store at Diablo Boulevard and Highway 680 in Danville also opened March 2. [See - January 17, 2011: First Look at the Willow Glen-San Jose Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store Set to Open March 2, 2011 and February 14, 2011: First Look: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store in Northern California's Danville Set to Open on March 2.]

The Bird and Minnesota store in San Jose is currently the leading sales performer out of the seven Fresh & Easy markets opened so far in Northern California, according to our sources at the grocery chain.

As we've previously reported, after the four stores noted above open this month (making 11 Northern California units so far for Tesco's Fresh & Easy) the next two stores set to open are both in San Francisco - at 32nd Street and Clement in the Richmond District and the store in the 5800 Third Street development, which is at Third Street and Carroll Avenue. [See - February 1, 2011: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Still Plans April-May 2011 Openings For First Two San Francisco Stores.]

Based on our current information, Fresh & Easy plans to open the 32nd and Clement store in early-to-mid May.

The grocer also wants to open the Third Street and Carroll Avenue unit next month, if it's completed and ready to go. If not, the store in the 5800 Third Street development will open no later than June, according to our sources.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market hasn't yet announced any additional new store openings beyond the four units opening this month. It will be doing so soon though.

For example, in addition to the two Fresh & Easy stores in San Francisco next up to open, we've also reported that two more units, one store in Antioch and another in Farfield, are next up in the Northern California new store opening rotation. Read the story here - March 15, 2011: San Francisco, Antioch and Fairfield Stores Next Up in Northern California For Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market. Look for an announcement by the grocer soon on the opening dates of the two stores, along with the two San Francisco units.

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[Follow our extensive coverage of Tesco's Fresh & Easy in Northern California - 2011 at (click on) the following links: Fresh and Easy Northern California, Fresh and Easy San Francisco Bay Area, Northern California Market Region, Tesco's Fresh and Easy in Norcal 2011, Northern California Special Report, Northern California, 5800 Third Street.]