Tesco Opens First Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store in California's Northern Central Valley Today - in Modesto

A long line of shoppers waited this morning for the opening of the Fresh & Easy store in Modesto, California, as you can see in the photograph above, and in the next two photos below.

[Related Story: March 19, 2011: Preview: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is Headed to Save Mart Supermarket's Hometown of Modesto]

A big crowd of shoppers braved the wind and rain this morning to attend the grand opening of Tesco's first small-format Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market store in Modesto, California.

The store's not only Tesco's first Fresh & Easy market in Modesto (population 205,000), it's also the retailer's first store in the Northern Central Valley, which runs from San Joaquin County to Merced County, and is home to about 1.3 million people. (We'll explain why it's significant for Fresh & Easy to be opening its first store in the Northern Central Valley in an upcoming piece.)

The Modesto Fresh & Easy store, which opened this morning at 10 a.m. and is the first of four units Tesco thus far has planned in Modesto and nearby Ceres, is located in a shopping center at 1717 Oakdale Road (at Lancey Drive). The store is about a half mile from a Save Mart supermarket and an equal distance from a Raley's Superstore.

Prior to Tesco's Fresh & Easy acquiring the location in 2008 [See - November 6, 2008: Upcoming New Markets News: Tesco Will Open A Second Fresh & Easy Store in Modesto, California], the store was previously a supermarket operated by Modesto-based Save Mart Supermarkets. Save Mart closed the store a few years ago when it built and opened a larger and more modern supermarket half-a-mile away. Fresh & Easy renovated the building into the about 12,000 square-foot market it opened to a solid crown of shoppers this morning.

The opening of the Fresh & Easy store at Oakdale Road and Lancey Drive in Modesto was kicked off shortly before 10 a.m, when Modesto Mayor Jim Ridenour and the store's manager (both pictured here) cut the ceremonial ribbon, which was good news to the crowd waiting outside in the wet weather because they were allowed to enter the store shortly thereafter.

The store had a steady stream of shoppers following the 10 a.m opening. A Fresh & Easy Buzz correspondent who attended the opening said a second wave of shoppers showed up between 10:30 a.m. and 11 a,m., keeping the store's aisles fairly packed until noon, when a fresh batch of shoppers, many who work at the nearby businesses, showed up to take a look at Modesto's newest grocery store.

United Kingdom-based Tesco, which is the third largest retailer in the world, is the second major global chain to open a grocery store, Fresh & Easy, in Modesto in the last couple years.

In 2008 Walmart Stores, Inc., the world's largest retailer, opened its first Supercenter in Modesto. That supercenter, which has about 80,000-90,000 square-feet of selling space, also happens to be Walmart's first - and to date only we're aware of - hybrid supercenter located in what was an existing vacant big box building.

The supercenter, which is located on McHenry Drive in Modesto, previously contained a warehouse format supermarket and a drug store. Walmart converted the building into a "hybrid supercenter" in an existing building, something the Bentonville, Arkansas-based global-retailer is now doing elsewhere in California and in other regions in the U.S. The average new construction supercenter is about 170,000 square-feet, although Walmart is currently building some as small as 125,000-145,000 square-feet.

Walmart also has a discount format store in Modesto. The store isn't currently on Walmart's list of those in California it plans to expand and add food and grocery sections to, however.

Despite Walmart's opening of the hybrid supercenter in 2008 and now Tesco's entry into Modesto with its first Fresh & Easy store, the city's dominant food and grocery retailers remain locally-based.

The top grocer in the city of 205,000 is Modesto-based Save Mart Supermarkets, which has seven stores in Modesto - five Save Mart banner supermarkets, one Food Maxx discount warehouse store and a Maxx Value Foods discount supermarket.

Maxx Value Foods, a take off on its bigger cousin Food Maxx, is Save Mart's newest format. The Modesto headquartered grocery chain, which has 241 stores throughout Northern California, northern Nevada and as far south in the Central Valley as Bakersfield and about $5 billion in annual sales, converted a former Save Mart supermarket on Paradise Road in west Modesto into the Maxx Value Foods discount supermarket, which currently is the only one in operation. The format is a test for Save Mart and if it succeeds the retailer could convert some of its older, existing Save Mart stores located in lower income neighborhoods, which Paradise Road in Modesto is, into Maxx Value stores.

West Sacramento-based Raley's is Save Mart's leading competitor in Modesto. It has four stores, all under the Raley's banner. [ See - March 19, 2011: Preview: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is Headed to Save Mart Supermarket's Hometown of Modesto.]

The big turnout at this morning's Fresh & Easy store opening was likely due to a number of factors, including the fact the grocer mailed its weekly ad flyer, which included a coupon good for $10-off purchases of $20 or more and another offering a free reusable canvas shopping bag for purchases of $10 or more, to homes throughout the immediate area, along with to those located in neighborhoods at least as far as two and a half-to three miles from the 1717 Oakdale Road store.

Additionally, Modesto has a very high unemployment rate. the city and Stanislaus County, which it's the county seat of, currently suffers from a joblessness rate of nearly 19%, compared to California's overall 12.4 unemployment rate.

The city and county also have among the highest housing foreclosure rates in the country. Stanislaus County has rated among the top five U.S. counties for residential foreclosures since 2008. The median value of a home in Modesto has dropped by about 40% since 2005.

As a result of these continuing economic struggles, a grocery store grand opening is the perfect venue for the unemployed - a decent outing without a ticket price - and for those looking for a good deal on groceries. A number of shoppers told our correspondent just that this morning.

Lastly, over the last few years grocery store openings have simply become rather popular outings, particularly for the people who live in the neighborhoods where the new stores open. After all, from sociological and anthropological perspectives, grocery stores are far more than merely places to buy food. Their "third places" in which much of the needs of societies and neighborhoods, along with individuals, are met.

Before and after: Pictured above is the inside of the Fresh & Easy store at 1717 Oakdale Road in Modesto on January 31, 2001. Below is the store this morning at the grand opening.

Walnut Creek

In addition to opening the store in Modesto today, Tesco also opened a Fresh & Easy market in Walnut Creek, which is in the eastern part of the San Francico Bay Area. Walnut Creek is next door to Concord, where the grocer opened a store last Wednesday. Walnut Creek is about 65 miles from Modesto.

There are now seven Fresh & Easy markets in Northern California, all opened between March 2 of this year and today. Four additional stores are scheduled to open in Northern California in April.

With the opening of its two newest stores in Modesto and Walnut Creek today, Tesco's Fresh & Easy now operates 171 stores in California, Nevada and Arizona. The majority of the stores, 122 units, are in California. Of the 122 California Fresh 7 Easy stores, 108 units are located in Southern California. In addition to the seven stores in Northern California, there are seven Fresh & Easy markets in the Bakersfield metropolitan region and seven units in the Fresno area.

[Photo credit: Fresh & Easy Buzz, March 23, 2011.]

Related Stories

Readers: See (click on) the following links - Fresh and Easy Modesto CA, Fresh and Easy Northern California, Modesto California market, Northern California Market Region, Raleys, Save Mart, Tesco's Fresh and Easy in Norcal 2011 - for related stories in Fresh & Easy Buzz.

Preview: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is Headed to Save Mart Supermarket's Hometown of Modesto

Tesco's Fresh & Easy in Northern California - 2011
News/Analysis

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is preparing to open its first store, pictured above and below, in the Northern California city of Modesto on Wednesday, March 23.

The store, one of four units Tesco's Fresh & Easy currently has planned for Modesto and next door Ceres, is in a shopping center at 1717 Oakdale Road (at Lancey Drive) in Modesto, which has a population of about 205,000 residents and is located in the Northern Central Valley. [The photographs were taken by a Fresh & Easy Buzz correspondent on January 30, 2011. The store is completed and ready to open Wednesday.]


[See the following linked stories for details about the four Modesto and Ceres locations Tesco's Fresh & Easy has plans for stores at currently - May 10, 2008: New Markets: Tesco's Fresh & Easy to Move Into Modesto, California Market; Open its First Store in the City Early Next Year; November 6, 2008: Upcoming New Markets News: Tesco Will Open A Second Fresh & Easy Store in Modesto, California; March 31, 2009: Despite Having Postponed its Northern California Launch Indefinitely; Tesco's Fresh & Easy Planning Third Store in Modesto, California; and November 3, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Plans New Store in Northern Central Valley, California City of Ceres.]

Modesto is a little over an hour's drive from the San Francisco Bay Area city of Concord, where Tesco opened a Fresh & Easy store yesterday. [See - March 16, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Opens Stores in Concord and Vacaville Today; Makes Five Markets in Northern California.]

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market acquired the Oakdale Road and Lancey Drive location in 2008, as we reported in this story - November 6, 2008: Upcoming New Markets News: Tesco Will Open A Second Fresh & Easy Store in Modesto, California.

The building was most-recently home to a Save Mart supermarket, which was the anchor retailer in the shopping center. However, the Modesto-based chain, which is the second-largest grocer in Northern California after Safeway Stores, Inc., closed it some years ago after building and opening a bigger and more modern supermarket a little over half-a-mile away at 2601 Oakdale Road (at Floyd).

Save Mart, which operates 241 stores in Northern California, northern Nevada and as far south as Bakersfield in the Central Valley and has about $5 billion in annual sales, is headquartered in Modesto, where it's one of the city's top private sector employers.

Save Mart Supermarkets is privately-held. It's majority-owner is Bob Piccinini and his family. Picinini is a Modesto native and resident. His father Mike and a partner, Nick Tocco, founded the chain in the 1950's, opening the first store in Modesto. In the 1980's, shortly after he became president of Save Mart, Picinini, who is chairman and CEO of the chain, bought out the Tocco family in order to have a controlling interest in Save Mart.

Save Mart had about 40 stores, all in and near Modesto, when Bob Piccinini took over the chain in the 1980's. Today the retailer's 240-plus stores are located throughout Northern California and northern Nevada, and in the Central Valley from Stockton and Modesto south to Bakersfield.

Four years ago Piccinini's Save Mart bought the Albertsons Northern California division from then-owner private equity firm Cerberus. The stores, which are located primarily in the San Francisco Bay Area but also in the Sacramento region and elsewhere in Northern California, were re-branded Lucky about a year later.

The Lucky name has a long history in Northern California, where supermarkets under the banner operated for decades. However, Albertsons Inc., which was acquired by Supervalu, Inc., Cerberus and CVS Pharmacy a number of years ago, acquired American Stores in the 1980's and a few years later changed all of the Lucky banner stores in Northern California to Albertsons. When Save Mart bought the division from Cerberus, rights to the Lucky name and brand were part of the deal. Save Mart decided to change all the Albertsons banner stores back to Lucky, rather than using Save Mart, because research found the Lucky brand still had significant equity among consumers in Northern California.

Save Mart is the dominant grocer in Modesto, both in terms of number of stores and market share. It operates five Save Mart banner supermarkets, a Maxx Value Foods hard-discount format supermarket (on Paradise Road in the western part of the city), which so far the only store in what is a smaller-sized version of its Food Maxx discount warehouse format, and one Food Maxx discount warehouse store in Modesto.

Another privately-held and fairly local (90 minute drive from Modesto) chain, West Sacramento-based Raley's, is Save Mart's leading competitor in Modesto.

The other leading major chain food retailers in Modesto are: Walmart (one supercenter and a discount format store), Safeway, Winco Foods, Trader Joe's, Costco, Grocery Outlet and 99 Cents Only, all with one store each respectively in the city.

Modesto also has numerous multi and single-store independents that operate stores of various different formats, from upscale (O'Brien's Markets; two stores) and mid-range (Sam's Food City), to hard-discount (Cost Less Food Co.; three units).

Additionally, a new independent and locally-owned grocer, Green's Market, which specializes in in-store prepared ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat fresh-prepared foods, opened a small-format store this month in downtown Modesto. The store also offers a selection of fresh produce, perishables and groceries, putting a emphasis on locally-produced, natural/organic and specialty-oriented products.

Raley's, which operates stores under the Raley's (superstores), Bel-Air, Nob Hill (supermarkets) and Food Source (discount warehouse format) banners, has four Raley's superstores in Modesto.

And like Save Mart, one of Raley's four Modesto stores is located about half-a-mile from the soon-to-be-opened Fresh & Easy store at Oakdale Road and Lancey Drive.

The photo above of the inside of the Fresh & Easy store at 1717 Oakdale Road in Modesto, which is set to open March 23, was taken by a Fresh & Easy Buzz correspondent on January 30, 2010, shortly after work began on the store's interior.

The Save Mart supermarket that's a little over half-a-mile from the Fresh & Easy location at 1717 Oakdale Road is about 40,000 square-feet. The nearby Raley's superstore is about 50,000 square-feet. In contrast, the Fresh & Easy market at Oakdale Road and Lancey Drive is, like all of the grocer's fresh food and grocery markets, 10,000-12,000 square-feet.

The Fresh & Easy store opening at 1717 Oakdale Road on Wednesday isn't the first location the grocer acquired in Modesto. Rather, as we were the first publication to report nearly three years ago in this story - May 10, 2008: New Markets: Tesco's Fresh & Easy to Move Into Modesto, California Market; Open its First Store in the City Early Next Year - that honor goes to the Sylvan Square shopping center in Modesto, where Tesco signed a deal to put a Fresh & Easy market in half the building, which is about 30,000 square-feet, that formerly housed independent grocer Michotti's Marketplace, which closed in early 2008.

Fresh & Easy originally planned to make the Sylvan Square center store its first unit in Modesto. However, that was back in the days when Tesco planned to launch into Northern California in early 2009 rather than early 2011. [See - May 10, 2008: New Markets: Tesco's Fresh & Easy to Move Into Modesto, California Market; Open its First Store in the City Early Next Year. Those plans have changed, however. Fresh & Easy decided last year to make the Oakdale and Lancey store its first in the city.

It will be interesting to observe how the two family-owned and locally-based chains, particularly Save Mart, which is Modesto born, bred and based, behave from a competitive standpoint when the Fresh & Easy store at 1717 Oakdale Road, which essentially will be in the middle of the Raley's and Save Mart stores, both being only about half-a-mile away, opens on Wednesday.

Save Mart Supermarket's is known to get very aggressive with new (and existing) competitors coming into its home-base Modesto territory. Among the defensive moves the local chain could make, for example, is to except Fresh & Easy's discount store coupons at its Oakdale Road Save Mart store, like Kroger-owned Fry's is doing in Arizona, as we detailed in this recent story - January 29, 2011: Fry's Food Stores Brings Back 'Competitor Coupon Match' Promotion; Accepting Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Coupons in Arizona.

As an example of Save Mart's competitive streak, in December 2010, when it converted a Save Mart store on Paradise Road in west Modesto into its first (and currently only) Maxx Value Foods discount supermarket, the grocer launched a price and promotional war campaign against a nearby store owned by Modesto-based multi-store discount grocer Cost Less Food Co., targeting the Cost Less store on Carpenter Road in Modesto, which is the retailer's closest unit to the Maxx Value store on Paradise Road. Modesto-based Cost Less Food Co. has eight stores. Seven units are in the Central Valley and one store is in Jackson, which is in Amador County in the foothills.

Save Mart's price war campaign started with a full-page advertisement in the local daily newspaper, the Modesto Bee. In the advertisement Save Mart published a price-comparison survery that stated its prices on a chosen market basket of groceries is cheaper than the same one at the Cost Less store, showing receipts for comparable items purchased at both stores in the ad.

A few weeks later Cost Less fired back, running not a one page but instead a double truck ad in the paper, offering a survey with twice the number of items Save Mart used in its market basket sample and showing that its Cost Less store on Carpenter Road is the cheaper of the two stores, based on purchases of like items at both stores.

These types of surveys depend on the items a retailer selects to include in the market basket. And since its a self-selection process it can be easily manipulated. Consumers should beware of such surveys and retailers should be cautious in using them.

In December Save Mart Supermarkets also started running (and continues to do so) a weekly full-page ad for its Paradise Road Maxx Value Foods store in the paper's Wednesday food section, which is something Cost Less has been doing for a number of years. The ad, just like Cost Less Foods' full-page advertisement, features about 10-12 "loss leader" food and grocery items offered at or below cost.

Two other possible defensive moves Save Mart Supermarkets could make vis-a-vis the nearby Fresh & Easy market at 1717 Oakdale Road would be to offer to match or beat all advertised and everyday prices at the Fresh & Easy, which is something Save Mart already does at its Food Maxx discount warehouse stores, where its policy is to meet or beat the prices of all its competitors.

Additionally, since Save Mart is headquartered right in Modesto (about a 10-minute drive from its own and the Fresh & Easy store on Oakdale Road) it can easily offer store-specific deals at the Oakdale Road store only, targeted to Fresh & Easy, like it's doing with the Paradise Road Maxx Value Foods store against Cost Less.

Or...Save Mart could nothing more than it's already doing, which in some ways would be bad news for Fresh & Easy since it would signal that Save Mart doesn't find the new entry owned by the world's third-largest food retailer, Tesco, a serious threat to its store half-a-mile away and its hometown dominance in Modesto.

Save Mart operates supermarkets and Food Maxx units in the Fresno and Bakersfield areas where Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has 14 stores, so the chain is familiar with the Fresh & Easy format and operations.

Raley's, in addition to being a superstore operator, is a pioneer and leader in ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat fresh-prepared foods merchandising, a category that comprises a significant portion of Fresh & Easy's offering.

Raley's introduced a new line of pre-packaged refrigerated ready meals and sides in October of last year, which it's added to its already extensive selection of packaged and bulk deli-style merchandised ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat fresh-prepared foods. [See - October 30, 2010: Raley's Launches New 'Raley's TO GO' Pre-Packaged, Refrigerated Fresh-Prepared Foods Line.] The new pre-packaged line was launched in part because of Tesco's moving into Northern California this year.

All of Fresh & Easy's fresh ready meals and sides are pre-packaged. We expect Raley's to defend its prepared foods turf at the nearby store once the Fresh & Easy market at Oakdale and Lancey opens. We also expect Raley's, like Save Mart, to defend its turf across all categories at the Modesto store.

It should be an interesting competitive triangle; the Fresh & Easy market at 1717 Oakdale Road, the Oakdale Road Save Mart store and the nearby Raley's superstore, all located about half-a-mile from each other. And it begins on Wednesday, March 23, when the first Fresh & Easy store in Modesto opens at 1717 Oakdale Road. Stay tuned.

Related Stories

[Readers: Click on the following links - Fresh and Easy Northern California, Tesco's Fresh and Easy in Norcal 2011, Northern CA Launch, Northern California, Northern California Market Region, Fresh and Easy San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California Special Report - for related stories about Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market in Northern California.]

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.]

Tesco Will Open its First Eight Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores in Northern California in 'Early 2011'

Northern California Market Special Report

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market announced today in a press release it plans to open its first eight stores in Northern California in "early 2011."

The announcement today by Fresh & Easy comes a mere 19 days later than we predicted it would.

In this June 26, 2010 story - Tesco Planning to Announce in July When First Northern California Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores to Open - Fresh & Easy Buzz predicted the grocer would make such an announcement before the end of July, adding that since the timeline for its Northern California launch has been an ever-fluid and changing topic at Tesco, the announcement could come a bit later than we predicted.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy didn't offer a specific date in its press release today for when the first eight Northern California stores would open, instead saying the first batch of stores will open in "early 2011." However, our most recent reporting, prior to today's announcement, has been that the first stores will open in February or March 2011, which is "early 2011." For example, read our latest piece on the topic here: July 29, 2010 - Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Putting Together List of Managers Interested in Transferring to Northern California.

Additionally, in a story published yesterday [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], as part of our 'Northern California Market Special Report' series, we discussed Tesco Fresh & Easy's potentially closing window of opportunity in Northern California if the grocer doesn't announce it plans for the region. A day later Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has announced it plans to open its first eight Northern California.
stores in "early 2011."

The locations of the first eight stores to open early next year are:

>San Francisco: 3rd 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

The San Francisco, San Jose, Walnut Creek, Concord and Danville stores (all located in the San Francisco Bay Area) and the Vacaville (between the Bay Area and Sacramento) locations are all part of the original 37 Fresh & Easy stores in Northern California that Tesco announced it planned to open nearly three years ago.

The Pacifica (Bay Area) and Modesto (Northern Central Valley) stores have never been confirmed by Tesco's Fresh & Easy, although we've reported on the locations extensively, until now. [See our Northern California Fresh & Easy Store List for the 37 confirmed locations in Northern California, along with the numerous unconfirmed locations we've reported on.]

[Read this piece on Fresh & Easy in Modesto, California - March 31, 2009: Despite Having Postponed its Northern California Launch Indefinitely; Tesco's Fresh & Easy Planning Third Store in Modesto, California. Also see the links to earlier stories on the topic at the story.]

[Read our lastest story on the Pacifica location - July 21, 2010: Vacant Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store in Pacifica, California Has the City's Mayor in a Pickle.]

[Also read this recent column by our 'The Insider' columnist - July 18, 2010: When it Comes to Northern California - its Competitors are Rome Burning and Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is Nero Playing the Fiddle.]

[We've written about all of the eight stores, along with numerous others, over the last three years. You can look through this link and also here for a selection, along with searching by store, city, ect. at the link. Also see the many links to other posts in the various stories.]

In April 2010, Fresh & Easy Buzz began our ongoing 'Northern California Market Special Report' series. We did so specifically for the purpose of covering Fresh & Easy in Northern California, as well as the larger market, as a run up to today's announcement by Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market. For any readers who might have wondered why we've been devoting so much effort to Northern California since April, now you know why. Our special report series on the region will continue.

Fresh & Easy Buzz will be offering additional coverage, analysis and commentary on Tesco's announcement today regarding the opening of its first eight Fresh & Easy stores in Northern California in "early 2011." Stay tuned...

But until then, we suggest you read the stories linked above, along with reading the stories linked below, which have appeared thus far in our 'Northern California Market Special Report' series.

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

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

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

Additionally: Click here to read a selection of past stories on Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market and Northern California. Click the "older posts" link at the bottom of the linked pages for additional posts/pages.

Despite Having Postponed its Northern California Launch Indefinitely; Tesco's Fresh & Easy Planning Third Store in Modesto, California

Central Valley, California Market Region Report - Modesto, CA

Despite having postponed its launch into Northern California indefinitely, Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is planning a third store in the Northern San Joaquin Valley city of Modesto.

That store, a built-from-the-ground-up unit, is located in rural south Modesto, on Crows Landing Road near Whitmore Avenue.

There's currently a "Fresh & Easy Coming Soon" sign up at the store construction site, which is situated near a shopping center on Crows Landing Road that contains a Burger King fast food restaurant.

Crows Landing Road is a long, mixed-use commercial retail and industrial strip that ties the southern portion of Modesto into its downtown. The location of the Fresh & Easy market is at the far southern end of the commercial strip, in an area that's on the urban-rural edge of south Modesto. There are numerous orchards and other agricultural fields near the store site.

South Modesto is an interesting mix of commercial businesses, industrial firms and mostly single-family residential housing. The area has a very high Latino population. Many of the retail stores along Crows Landing Road cater to Hispanic shoppers, for example.

In terms of retail, along with a number of Latino grocers and bakeries, there's Hispanic-focused general merchandise stores, a number of used car lots, fast foods restaurants, service stations, a large retail-wholesale produce market and a Starbucks cafe with a drive-through window, which is located near the future Fresh & Easy grocery store location.

The neighborhood also has numerous industrial and wholesale distribution businesses. For example, the Winco Foods supermarket chain has a 700,000 square foot distribution center not far from the Fresh & Easy store site. There's also a number of small manufacturing businesses in the area.

The Stanislaus (Modesto is the county seat of Stanislaus County) County Jail is also located on Crows Landing Road, not far from the future Fresh & Easy store, along with a golf driving range, which also is near the site of the future Fresh & Easy market.

It's a very mixed use commercial, residential, industrial and agricultural part of the city. In urban planning terms it can be characterized as an urban fringe area.

Along with the city's Airport District, South Modesto has the highest percentage of low income residents in Modesto, according to the city's Economic Development Department. Most of the housing in the neighborhood is older and is among the most affordable in the city of 205,000. Stanislaus County has a population of about 520,000. Modesto is the county's largest city.

South Modesto also has, along with the Airport District neighborhood, the highest percentage of city residents receiving federal, state and county government financial assistance, such as welfare, WIC vouchers and food stamps, according to the city of Modesto.

At 16.9% (February numbers), Stanislaus County, along with next door Merced County (19% unemployment rate), has among the highest unemployment rates in California, if not in the U.S. The region has been hit hard by the housing foreclosure crisis. Merced and Stanislaus have been among the top five-highest per capita counties in the U.S. for housing foreclosures for over a year. California's overall unemployment rate for February was 10.5%

The south Modesto area has an even higher unemployment rate than the city of Modesto and Stanislaus County does as a whole. Estimates are that about 21% of the residents in the area are without jobs at present.

The city of Ceres, which has a population of 43,000, is near the Crows Landing Road future Fresh & Easy store location. Wal-Mart is currently building a 200,000 square foot combination food and general merchandise Supercenter in Ceres, just a few miles from the Fresh & Easy site. The Supercenter is slated to open later this year, according to the City of Ceres planning department.

As we've previously reported, Tesco currently has two other Fresh & Easy store sites planned for Modesto. One of those stores, located in the Sylvan Square Shopping Center in a former supermarket, was supposed to have opened by now. However, little if any work has been done to convert the vacant building set to house the Fresh & Easy market. Read our May 10, 2008 story: New Markets: Tesco's Fresh & Easy to Move Into Modesto, California Market; Open its First Store in the City Early Next Year.

The second location, at 1717 Oakdale Road in Modesto, also is slated to go into a vacant supermarket building. However, work on remodeling the building has yet to begin. Read our November 6, 2008 piece here: Upcoming New Markets News: Tesco Will Open A Second Fresh & Easy Store in Modesto, California.

The Crows Landing Road location, planned Modesto store number three, has some initial construction work started on it. The site is fenced-in and the "Fresh & Easy Coming Soon" sign is clearly visible from Crows Landing Road.

However, according to residents of the neighborhood, there hasn't been much if any construction work going on at the Fresh & Easy site recently.

This isn't a surprise to Fresh & Easy Buzz because it's our analysis that it's very unlikely Tesco will open any of its Fresh & Easy markets in Northern California this year, based on our reporting and research.

The Crows Landing Road location is substantially different than the other two Modesto store sites. Those two locations are in urban, middle-class residential neighborhoods. Plans call for those two Fresh & Easy stores to be housed in now vacant buildings in those neighborhoods that have a long history of being supermarket locations.

On the other hand, not only is the planned Crows Landing road location in a much lower income part of Modesto, the area also is very rural.

On the plus side, there are few full-service grocery markets in the area. There's a Latino-focused supermarket a few blocks away, located in what was once a Save Mart supermarket, along with a couple smaller Hispanic grocery stores and a convenience store not far away.

The part of Crows Landing Road where the Fresh & Easy site is located gets a considerable amount of daily commuter traffic. Numerous residents of smaller cities surrounding Modesto work in the city and use Crows Landing Road to get to and from work each day. That's why, for example, the Starbucks in the area is mostly a drive-through cafe.

In our analysis, based on the lack of full-service grocery markets in the Crows Landing Road neighborhood, along with the fact the area is a rural part of the city with a high percentage of low-income residents, the planned Fresh & Easy store therefore qualifies as a "food desert" location. "Food deserts" are neighborhoods underserved by grocery stores that offer a decent selection of fresh foods and groceries at affordable prices.

Interestingly, the residents we talked to about the planned Fresh & Easy market on Crows Landing Road in Modesto all thought it was either a conventional convenience store or fast food restaurant.

When told it was a combination grocery and fresh foods market, all were very surprised.

But it could be a moot point in the near -to- medium term since it doesn't look like plans call for the store to be completed soon.

However, the Crows Landing Road location does make three locations thus far for Tesco's Fresh & Easy in Modesto.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has not confirmed any of the three locations for Modesto, nor announced their existence.

However, Fresh & Easy Buzz has documented the three sites in multiple ways, including visually, as well as through our commercial real estate sources, and through the California Alcoholic Beverage Control Department, for the Oakdale Road and Sylvan Square stores, because Tesco's Fresh & Easy applied for beer and wine permits for those two locations.

Based on our reporting and research though, its unlikely any of the three Modesto Fresh & Easy stores, along with those elsewhere in Northern California, will open this year. Stay tuned.

Linkage - Related stories:

>May 10, 2008: New Markets: Tesco's Fresh & Easy to Move Into Modesto, California Market; Open its First Store in the City Early Next Year

>November 6, 2008: Upcoming New Markets News: Tesco Will Open A Second Fresh & Easy Store in Modesto, California

>May 15, 2008: Fresh But Never Easy: Tesco's Long But Rapid South-North March in the Nation-State of California

>September 15, 2008: Wal-Mart Expanding its Discount Store-to-Supercenter Conversion Program As Part of its Strategy to Grab Even More Food and Grocery Sales Market Share

>December 29, 2008: Competitor News: Winco Foods to Expand in California and Nevada in 2009; Put Aggressive Focus on Central Valley, Northern California and Northern Nevada

>February 11, 2009: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Isn't the Only Food & Grocery Retailer With its Eyes on Bakersfield: Wal-Mart's Bakersfield Push and Central Valley, CA Strategy