Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market and Walmart Create A September New Grocery Store Rain Storm in Oceanside, California

Call it a September rain storm of new grocery stores in the coastal San Diego County, California city of Oceanside.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is opening three new stores in San Diego County tomorrow - and two of the three markets are in Oceanside. The third store is in San Diego.

Hybrid Walmart supercenter opens

The two new Fresh & Easy stores opening tomorrow in Oceanside come on the heels of the soft opening two weeks ago of a hybrid Walmart supercenter, which was created out of an existing Walmart discount format store after months of renovation. The store is at 2100 West Vista Way.

Over the summer, Walmart converted the now former discount store into a hybrid supercenter, adding fresh foods - meats, produce, a deli - a bakery, and expanded selections of perishables, frozen foods and groceries, as it's doing with numerous discount stores in Southern California and throughout the U.S.

A hybrid supercenter, in our definition, is a Walmart discount format store that's been converted to what's generally a smaller and less extensive version of a traditional, built-from-the-ground-up Walmart supercenter. A hybrid can also be a smaller supercenter, like the one in Modesto, California, that's been located inside an existing building. [See - May 6, 2010: Going Smaller & Getting 'Hybrid': Walmart's Smaller Supercenter in Vacant Retail Buildings Strategy Began in 2008

Unlike it's doing with many of its other discount store-to-supercenter conversions, Walmart didn't add any additional square-footage to house the fresh foods and expanded groceries (essentially a supermarket-within-the-store) in the Vista Way store. Instead, it shrunk the electronics department considerably, along with reducing the size of some of the store's other general merchandise departments, in order to make room for the fresh foods and bakery areas and expanded frozen, perishable and grocery product offerings.

The hybrid supercenter has smaller fresh food departments than a traditional, built-from-the-ground up supercenter, which average about 180,000 square-feet. Walmart is also building smaller new supercenters than it has in the best. The smallest range from 140,000-160,000 square-feet, although there are some exceptions in terms of being smaller.

The converted Oceanside store is very much like the Walmart hybrid supercenter in Modesto, California in terms of size, layout and consumable and general merchandise selections. The Modesto store, which is about 98,000 square-feet, is the first and to date only supercenter the retailer has housed in a completely renovated vacant big box store.

The Vista Way store in Oceanside, which is about 110,000 square-feet, remained open throughout the renovation process. Walmart has yet to officially announce the hybrid supercenter's completion and hold a grand opening, as it does with all of its fully-renovated stores, particularly those converted to supercenters.

Fresh & Oceanside

Meanwhile, the two Fresh & Easy stores opening tomorrow in Oceanside mark the grocer's first entry into the city's food and grocery retailing market. There are currently eight (11 as of tomorrow) Fresh & Easy markets in San Diego County, but none in Oceanside. That changes tomorrow.

The two stores are within a short driving distance from one another in Oceanside. One unit is at 4131 Oceanside Boulevard (College and Oceanside) and the other store is at 4908 North River Road (River Road and College).

The third Fresh & Easy store in San Diego County opening tomorrow is at 3231 East University Avenue (32nd Street and University Avenue).

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is holding grand openings at all three new stores tomorrow, starting at 10 am.

Fresh & Easy: By the numbers

There are currently 165 Fresh & Easy stores in California, southern Nevada and Metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona.

The openings tomorrow of the three new stores in San Diego County will give the fresh food and grocery chain 168 units.

After tomorrow, those 168 stores will break down by market region as follows:

~Southern California
=93 stores

~Central Valley, California/Bakersfield region
=7 stores

~Central Valley, California/Fresno region
=7 stores

~Metropolitan Las Vegas, Nevada region
=27 stores

~Metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona region
=34 stores

October openings

As of today, Tesco's Fresh & Easy hasn't announced any new store openings for October.

As we've previously reported, so far, according to our sources, three new stores are planned for October 2010 openings.

However, new store openings are a moving target at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market headquarters in El Segundo, California. Therefore the number of new stores to be opened in October could increase before the grocery chain makes an announcement, which should be coming soon. Fresh & Easy could also decide not to open the three stores in October, as part of that moving target process.

Raining cats and grocery stores

Meanwhile, with the opening of the Vista Way Walmart hybrid Walmart supercenter, offering a full-selection of fresh food and grocery products, along with the two new Fresh & Easy fresh food and grocery markets opening tomorrow morning, the folks of coastal Oceanside, California have had their grocery shopping choices trebled in the first three weeks in September.

Related stories:

September 15, 2010: Two New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Open in Fresno, California Region Today

September 8, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Hits (and Breaks) the 100-Store Mark in California With Today's Openings

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

Neighborhood Group in Oceanside, CA Appealing Fresh & Easy Store Development; We Look Back to Oak Park-Sacramento Group's Successful Appeal

Southern California Market Region Report: Fresh & Easy - New Store Development

The Oceanside Coastal Neighborhood Association, a neighborhood group in Oceanside, California near San Diego in the far-southern region of Southern California, says it plans to appeal the recent approval by the City of Oceanside of a new Tesco Fresh & Easy store in the city, according to the group's president, Charles "Chuck" Lowery. The Fresh & Easy market would be the first for Tesco in Oceanside. The grocer has stores nearby however.

The neighborhood association's plans to appeal the decision was first reported earlier today in the local North County Times newspaper by staff writer Craig Tenbroeck. [You can read his report here.] Fresh & Easy Buzz verified the neighborhood group's plans to appeal the approval by the city.

The proposed Fresh & Easy store is part of a two-building development -- the Fresh & Easy market and a second retail store -- that a developer plans to build on a vacant lot on the northwest corner of Oceanside Boulevard and Vine Street in Oceanside.

The City of Oceanside's planning department staff has approved the development, including the Fresh & Easy store.

The Oceanside Coastal Neighborhood Association plans to appeal the Fresh & Easy store's approval for two primary reasons: The neighborhood group feels the city approved the project without seeking input from affected neighborhood residents, and it believes the city should have held a public hearing, most often a common practice, before approving the development.

Scott Nightengale, a staff planner for the city, told the North County Times' that a public hearing wasn't needed because the two-building retail commercial development met all of the planning department's and city of Oceanside's planning guidelines.

The neighborhood group will get their appeal hearing however. It's expected to happen in Early June, city planner Nightengale told the newspaper.

Wal-Mart 'Marketside' store slated for Oceanside

In addition to Tesco's Fresh & Easy, Wal-Mart plans to build and open one of its small-format (15,000 -to- 20,000 square foot) Marketside grocery and fresh foods stores in the city of Oceanside, along with a second store in the region in downtown San Diego.

The Oceanside Marketside store could open before the end of this year. [Read our May 18, 2008 story here: Wal-Mart Looking For Sites in California For it's Small-Format 'Marketside' Grocery Stores. And our September 10, 2008 piece here: Financial Times Follows Fresh & Easy Buzz's Lead in Reporting on Wal-Mart's Plans to Open Marketside Stores in Southern California.] Click here for more of our stories and posts about Wal-Mart's Marketside.

Wal-Mart currently operates four Marketside grocery and fresh foods stores, all located in Arizona's Phoenix Metro region -- one each in the cities of Gilbert, Chandler, Mesa and Tempe. It's building a fifth Metro Phoenix region Marketside store in Peoria, Arizona.

Metropolitan Phoenix is one of the three market regions where Tesco's Fresh & Easy has its current 119 grocery and fresh foods markets. The other two market regions are Southern California and Bakersfield in California, and Metro Las Vegas in southern Nevada. About 61 of the Fresh & Easy stores are in Southern California; three are in Bakersfield; 30 in Metro Phoenix; and 25 in Metropolitan Las Vegas, Nevada.

Fresh & Easy store challenges

Tesco's Fresh & Easy has had few of its 119 small-format (10,000 -to- 13,000 square-foot), convenience-oriented combination grocery and fresh foods markets challenged by community or neighborhoods groups to date.

The retailer has had the liquor license for one of its stores in Southern California -- the Vanowen & Sepulveda Fresh & Easy market in Los Angeles' Van Nuys area -- challenged by a neighborhood group that didn't want additional stores in the neighbohrood selling liquor.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market pulled the liquor license permit for the store in response. The store currently only sells beer and wine.

Other than the liquor sales issue though, which Fresh & Easy solved by withdrawing its application to sell hard liquor at the store, the neighborhood generally welcomed the Fresh & Easy market's coming to the location.

Oak Park-Sacramento neighborhood association

The most prominant instance of a neighborhood group challenging Tesco in terms of one its proposed Fresh & Easy markets for their neighborhood is the Oak Park Neighborhood Association in Sacramento, California. Fresh & Easy Buzz reported on and wrote about that challenge extensively. [See the story links at the end of this piece.]

The Sacramento neighborhood group challenged the proposed design of the proposed Oak Park Fresh & Easy store, along with aspects of its siting on the vacant lot where the proposed store is to be located in the neighborhood.

The neighborhood association filed an appeal of the original proposed Oak Park neighbohrood-Sacramento Fresh & Easy market's design with the city's Design Review Board in September 2008. See our October 7, 2008 report here: Sacramento's Oak Park Neighborhood Association Files Appeal On Design of Proposed Neighborhood Fresh & Easy Store; Hearing Set For Oct.15.] A hearing on the neighbohrood group's appeal took place on October 15, 2008.

After the hearing before the Sacramento Design Review Board -- which sided with the Oak Park Neighborhood Association to a large degree in its appeal of the proposed Fresh & Easy store design even though the board had signed off on the proposed design initially -- and negotiations between leaders of the neighborhood group and representatives of Fresh & Easy (the developers of the store) -- the neighbohrood association and Tesco's Fresh & Easy reached an agreement on a revised design.

That revised design was approved by the City of Sacramento Design Review Board in November 2008. [See our November 17, 2008 story here: Sacramento City Design Board Agrees With Oak Park Group on Design Changes For Proposed Fresh & Easy Store; Escrow Closed on $1.1 Million Parcel. And our October 15, 2008 piece here: Hearing Tonight For Sacramento, CA Neighborhood Group's Appeal of Design of Fresh & Easy Store Proposed For Their Oak Park Neighborhood.]

Ironically, ground has yet to be broken on the Oak Park-Sacramento Fresh & Easy store because Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has postponed its Northern California market region launch indefinitly, as we've reported previously in Fresh & Easy Buzz.

Based on the initial construction timeline for the Oak Park Fresh & Easy, ground should have been broken by now on the store, even with the time taken up by the appeal hearings and negotiations with the Oak Park Neighborhood Association.

But Tesco Fresh & Easy's postponing of its Northern California launch (and not for the first time) changed the Oak Park-Sacramento store's construction timeline. [November 12, 2008: Analysis: Hard Times at Fresh & Easy - Northern California Expansion to Be Postponed or Shelved Do to Economy; But its Only a Symptom Not the Cause. November 16, 2008: November 16, 2008: Tesco Fresh & Easy CEO Tim Mason Says He's 'Deliriously Happy' With the Chain's Progress Thus Far; We Prefer Andy Grove's 'Only the Paranoid Survive.']

Oceanside Coastal Neighborhood Association

If the Oceanside, California neighborhood group has a desire to see the proposed Fresh & Easy store in its members' neighborhood look different in some way from the proposed current design, the links below about the Oak Park-Sacramento neighborhood group's appeal of the proposed store in their neighborhood, the start date for which is in limbo, might be a good place to start.

Linkage - Tesco's Fresh & Easy & Sacramento's Oak Park Neighborhood

>November 17, 2009: Sacramento City Design Board Agrees With Oak Park Group on Design Changes For Proposed Fresh & Easy Store; Escrow Closed on $1.1 Million Parcel

>Tuesday, October 7, 2008: Sacramento's Oak Park Neighborhood Association Files Appeal On Design of Proposed Neighborhood Fresh & Easy Store; Hearing Set For Oct.15

>October 15, 2008: Hearing Tonight For Sacramento, CA Neighborhood Group's Appeal of Design of Fresh & Easy Store Proposed For Their Oak Park Neighborhood

>Wednesday, October 8, 2008: Putting the 'Neighborhood' in Neighborhood Market: 'Localism' and Tesco's Proposed Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market in Sacramento's Oak Park

>Tuesday, October 7, 2008: Sacramento's Oak Park Neighborhood Association Files Appeal On Design of Proposed Neighborhood Fresh & Easy Store; Hearing Set For Oct.15

>Wednesday, October 15, 2008: Hearing Tonight For Sacramento, CA Neighborhood Group's Appeal of Design of Fresh & Easy Store Proposed For Their Oak Park Neighborhood

>July 16, 2008: Fresh Feature: A Former NBA All-Star Who Wants to Become Mayor, A Trade Union, And A Future Tesco Fresh & Easy Grocery Store In Sacramento, California

>April 29, 2008: Tesco's Fresh & Easy an Issue in Sacramento, California Mayor's Race A Year Before its First Store in the Capital City Even Opens

>March 7, 2008: Former NBA All-Star and Sacramento Native Kevin Johnson is the Driving Force Behind a Fresh & Easy Market in Sacramento's Oak Park Neighborhood

>February 28, 2008: News & Analysis: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Confirms 19 Store Locations for the Sacramento-Vacaville Region in Northern California

>February 13, 2008: Leading Democratic Candidate for President Barack Obama Joins Group in Asking Tesco's Fresh & Easy to Put More Stores in Underserved Neighborhoods

>December 3, 2008: Swearing-In of New Sacramento, CA Mayor Kevin Johnson Delayed A Few Hours Over A $2.2 Million Tesco Fresh & Easy Agenda Item

>November 12, 2008: Analysis: Hard Times at Fresh & Easy - Northern California Expansion to Be Postponed or Shelved Do to Economy; But its Only a Symptom Not the Cause

>November 16, 2008: Tesco Fresh & Easy CEO Tim Mason Says He's 'Deliriously Happy' With the Chain's Progress Thus Far; We Prefer Andy Grove's 'Only the Paranoid Survive'

[Follow Fresh & Easy Buzz around on Twitter.com at www.twitter.com/freshneasybuzz.]