Showing posts with label Stockton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stockton. Show all posts

Monday, December 5, 2011

Dollar General Jump-Starts California Launch: Taking Over 5 Centro Mart Supermarkets For Early 2012 Openings


Related Story: February 2, 2011: Centro Mart-Stockton Chairman, Veteran California Grocer Jimmy Lam Has Died.

Tennessee-based dollar-store-dynamo Dollar General plans to hit the ground running hard and fast when it launches both its traditional dollar format stores and its small-box Dollar General Market grocery stores in California next year.

To jump-start its California launch, 38-state, 9,813-store Dollar General has done a deal with Centro Mart, a 65-year-old independent supermarket chain based in Stockton, California, in which Dollar General will take over five of the grocer's seven stores - four in Stockton and one in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Brentwood.

Centro Mart CEO Mel Young says the Stockton-based chain, which until his death earlier in January was run for decades by veteran California grocer Jimmy Lam (see the related story at top), will close the five stores at the end of this month. It will keep two stores, a Centro Mart banner grocery store in the East Bay Area city of Oakley and a supermarket it operates under the Apple Marketplace banner in Lodi, which is near Stockton.

Dollar General will lease the five Centro Mart stores. Its not acquiring Centro Mart.

Dollar General will convert four of the five Centro Mart stores into Dollar General Market grocery stores, which feature fresh foods as well as groceries, and the remaining supermarket will become one of its traditional dollar stores, according to Todd Vascos, Dollar General's executive vice president and chief merchandising officer.

Vascos says Dollar General will begin converting the Centro Mart stores shortly after they are closed, targeting all five for spring 2012, most likely March-April, openings.

Dollar General announced its plans to enter Nevada and California earlier this year. So far the retailer has opened five of its Dollar General Market grocery stores in metro Las Vegas, Nevada.

The retailer currently operates 62 Dollar General Market stores in the U.S.

The Nevada stores are the first Dollar General Market stores the retailer has opened since 2007. Since then it has revamped the format, making numerous changes to the original version.

Centro Mart's Young says Dollar General approached the grocer about acquiring the stores earlier this year.
He says Centro-Mart agreed to the deal in part because of long-time CEO Jimmy Lam's death earlier this year, along with the heavy competitive climate in Northern California, which has made it tough for the independent chain to compete.

Dollar General is also looking for additional locations in Northern California for both its traditional dollar stores and its Dollar General Market.

Our commercial real estate sources, many of whom are regular readers of Fresh & Easy Buzz, tell us the retailer is looking in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento metro region, the Central Valley and farther north for locations, including paying special attention to the numerous vacant big and small-box store buildings currently on the market.

The dollar store retailer's plans also include Southern California, for both its dollar stores and Dollar General Market grocery stores. Like in the north, our commercial real estate sources tell us Dollar General is looking for numerous locations in the region.

Dollar General reported its third quarter financials today.

In a conference call reporting the results, CEO Richard Dreiling didn't address the Centro-Mart deal specifically, but said the retailer plans to open about 40 Dollar General Market grocery stores nationally in 2012. That number includes the five stores in Northern California, plus additional units in "new and existing markets."

Dollar General is entering into a short-term lease for a distribution center near Bakersfield, California which will serve the new stores in California and Nevada, along with existing stores in Arizona, Dreiling said today. The facility will open in the first half of 2012, he said. That timing fits with the April-May planned opening of the five to-be-converted Centro-Mart stores in Northern California.

Dreiling also said today that a major effort with Dollar General Market in its newest two markets, (Nevada and California) as well as nationally, will be to focus on food dessert regions where residents are underserved by grocery stores offering fresh foods and groceries at reasonable prices.

The CEO also said today that Dollar General is expanding its perishables offering in both the grocery markets and in its traditional dollar format stores.

"Fresh and refrigerated foods helped us drive customer traffic and increase basket size by serving a greater share of our customers' needs," Dreiling said. "We will continue to take an aggressive stance towards improving our in stock position. This is a never ending effort which requires focus on store-level perpetual inventory accuracy as well as improved execution across ordering, fulfillment, stocking and delivery."

CEO Dreiling also said today that private brand expansion is a key part of the Dollar General's ongoing strategy, saying the retailer is expanding product sourcing to new categories and importing from new countries. "To further expand our private brands we’ll be adding 150 new SKUs as we move into new categories," he said.

Dollar General reported fiscal 2011 third quarter (13 weeks ended October 28, 2011) net income of $171 million, compared to net income of $128 million in the third quarter (13 weeks) of fiscal 2010.

Excluding expenses in the 2011 third quarter of $0.9 million ($0.7 million, net of income taxes) relating to a secondary offering of the company's common stock by certain selling shareholders and excluding losses in the 2010 third quarter of $8 million ($5 million, net of income taxes) relating to the early repayment of long-term obligations, Dollar General's net income increased 29 percent, according to the retailer.

Consumable product sales continued to increase at a faster pace than non-consumables in Dollar General's third quarter, with the strongest growth across the food and snack categories, according to CEO Drieling. "Salty snacks, carbonated beverages, coffee and milk were the largest contributors," he said today.

The fact consumable sales are outpacing all other categories for Dollar General is in part what's making the retailer high on growing its Dollar General Market grocery store format, including in California, which with nearly 40 million residents has the highest population in the U.S.

Dollar General's entry into California next year adds yet another competitive layer to what already is a highly competitive food and grocery retailing scene, from Southern California and the Central Valley, to Northern California, where the retailer will open its first five grocery stores in the soon to be former Centro-Mart locations in early 2012.
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Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Centro Mart-Stockton Chairman, Veteran California Grocer Jimmy Lam Has Died

The Insider - Heard on the Street

Veteran California grocer Jimmy Lam, who was always quick with a smile, a firm handshake and a positive word, died on Sunday, January 30 at his home in Stockton, California. He was 80-years old. His wife of 55-years, Mary, was with him when he passed away, according to a family member.

Lam (left) spent 65-years in the food and grocery retailing business, all in Northern California. Most of his six-plus decades in the industry were spent at the now eight-store Centro Mart grocery chain, headquartered at 2150 W Alpine Avenue in Stockton, California, which he and a group of partners bought from its owner and Lam's employer at the time, Diamond Properties, Inc., in 1973. As part of the acquisition, Jimmy Lam became Centro Mart Inc.'s managing partner and head buyer-merchandiser.

Jimmy Lam, the third of seven children, got his start in the grocery business at age 15, working as a part-time grocery clerk at the former Daylight Market #38 in the eastern San Francisco Bay Area city of Brentwood, California, while attending Lowell High School in San Francisco. Lam graduated from Lowell, which has long been one of the top high schools in the United States, in 1948.

At age 21, Lam became a store manager for Diamond Properties Inc., eventually becoming the regional field operations manager for all of the chain's stores; then its corporate head of retail operations.

Starting in 1973, Jimmy Lam and his partners carved out a niche for Centro Mart as a locally-focused neighborhood-oriented grocery chain, focusing primarily in the Stockton metropolitan region and San Joaquin County, which today has a population of nearly 400,000. Stockton is the county seat. Because of Lam's leadership and success as managing partner and head of buying and merchandising, the partnership made him president and CEO of Centro Mart Inc. 12 years later, in 1985,

Lam continued to run the day-to-day operations of Centro Mart for many years after being named president and CEO in 1985, eventually bringing his son Ken into the business. Another son, Ron, who's a businessman in Southern California, is a member of Centro Mart Inc.'s board. Yi Chang is currently the CEO of Centro Mart.

Even after retiring some years ago from day-to-day operations at the Stockton-based grocery chain, which in addition to having stores in the city and nearby Lodi, also has supermarkets in the Easy Bay Area cities of Brentwood and Oakley (both are less than an hour's drive from Stockton), Lam remained very active in its operations as chairman, a position he held right up to his death on Sunday.

Jimmy Lam and his grocery chain were a favorite, particularly in the 1970's-1990's, of sales managers, representatives and food broker reps, not only because of the CEO's charm and friendly manner, but also because Centro Mart was a "buying chain," meaning a sales person for a consumer packaged goods company or food brokerage firm representing a manufacturer could make a presentation to Lam and his buyers, and if the deal was good, walk out of the grocer's headquarters office in Stockton less than an hour later having made a big sale, including full-truck sales/buys. No red tape. No waiting for weeks to hear back from the buyer. No buying committee to wait for.

The Centro Mart stores are also display-friendly, which is something sales managers and reps in the grocery trade, who get bonuses based on how much they sell, like. And back in the 1970's and 80's particularly, Centro Mart liked to buy and display, especially when it came to fast-moving items like paper goods, soft drinks, mayonnaise, canned foods, canned tuna and other similar products.

"Stack it high and sell it cheap" was a phrase often uttered and heard in the Centro Mart buying office in Stockton in those days, according to a couple veteran sales managers, who also happen to be Fresh & Easy Buzz readers, who did business with the chain for many years.

Even after he moved up from head buyer-merchandiser to president and CEO in 1985, Jimmy Lam was known to briefly duck into meetings his grocery buyer was having with a sales manager or representative, particularly if he had a history with the seller, and participate a little bit in the deal-making, often even helping the rep close the deal - if the deal was a good one for Centro Mart. That's what grocer's love to do, after all. Buy and sell.

Lam was recognized by the Northern California grocery trade for the way he treated sales people and others who supplied his stores. For example, during his career he received numerous honors from local trade organizations, like the San Joaquin/Central Valley-based Quality Travelers Club, a group of consumer packaged goods' and food brokerage sales people, and the San Francisco Sales Managers Club, to name two such trade groups.

Lam was also recognized for his executive abilities: During his long career in the grocery business he served on the boards of the Northern California Grocers Association., Tri-Valley Wholesale Grocers, Bank of Trade in San Francisco, Diamond Properties Inc. (all in Northern California) and United Meat Packing Co. in Taiwan.

Under Jimmy Lam's leadership through today, Centro Mart focused on being a neighborhood grocer; a high-low operator offering competitive everyday prices, combined with "hot" weekly specials.

The stores are "meat and potatoes" supermarkets - not upscale or specialty stores. No frills. Speaking of no frills, Centro Mart doesn't even a website, at least that I can find. And it's version of social networking involves face-to-face conversations in the stores' asiles, because the grocer-without-a-website certainly isn't on Facebook or Twitter.

Customer service and knowing regular customers by name are emphasised to employees by management. Many of Centro Mart's customers have been shopping at the stores for decades, particularly at the Stockton markets. Many customers also are second generation customers, having shopped at the stores with mom as kids.

Full-service checkout and bagging are the norm, as is an offer to carry customers' grocery purchases out to the car in selected cases.

Today Centro Mart operates pretty much like it did under Jimmy Lam's management. After all, in large part it remains a family effort. And despite the competition being stiffer today for the local grocer than it's ever been, Centro Mart has managed to survive among the giants, keeping its headquarters in Stockton and continuing to operate eight supermarkets.

And since Lam retired from day-to-day operations some years ago and has been serving as chairman, a management team is in place to carry on his tradition, if the partnership desires to do so, which appears to be the case.

Of course, like most independents Centro Mart is feeling the heat from the ever-increasing chain competition, which in Stockton includes a growing presence by Walmart with its supercenters.

But "local" is once again becoming popular. And Jimmy Lam was a local grocer in every sense of the word, including donating money and giving time in service to his adopted city of Stockton.

Although he was raised in San Francisco, which is about an hour's drive from Stockton, Lam adopted the Northern San Joaquin Valley city of Stockton as his own, donating money and time to numerous civic causes and efforts, including the Stockton Symphony Orchestra, the local YMCA and other programs to benefit young people, according to family, friends and people in the grocery trade.

The veteran California grocer was also a leader and respected elder in Stockton's sizable Chinese-American community, as well as serving as a role-model and mentor for children in that community.

Always quick with a smile, a firm handshake and a good word, regardless if you were a "wet-behind-the ears" sales representative making his or her first sales call at Centro Mart or a fellow grocery industry executive at a California Grocers Association convention, Jimmy Lam, who is survived by his wife Mary and three children (and their spouses) - Tricia Lam and Thomas Heenan of Laguna Beach; Ken and Diane Lam of Stockton; and Ron and Michelle Lam of Simi Valley, plus six grandchildren - was an old school grocer - and a gentlemen - in the best definition and tradition of both.

Jimmy Lam is also an important player in the history of food and grocery retailing in California, particularly Northern California, which is why I wanted to devote my column today to his passing.

[Note: A service will be held for Jimmy Lam from 3 p.m. -to- 6:30 p.m., February 4, at Evergreen Chapel, Cherokee Memorial Park and Funeral Home, Highway 99 at East Harney Lane, Lodi, California. A celebration of life will be held at 12-noon, February 12 in Morris Chapel on the University of the Pacific campus, 3601 Pacific Ave., Stockton, California.]

- 'The Insider'

[Editor's Note: 'The Insider' column appears regularly in Fresh & Easy Buzz. The opinions in the columns are those of 'The Insider,' and not necessarily shared by Fresh & Easy Buzz. Below are links to 'The Insider's' first column of 2011, and to a selection of 2010 columns, published in Fresh & Easy Buzz.]

'The Insider' - Columns: 2010-2011















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Sunday, August 22, 2010

Challenges & Opportunities: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Will Supply its Northern CA Stores From its Riverside County DC in Southern CA


The Insider: Heard on the Street

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market plans to supply it's Northern California stores from its 850 square-foot distribution center in Southern California's Riverside County rather than start up and operate its facility in Stockton, California, which it obtained in 2008, until it achieves a store-count and level of sales volume which makes doing so economically feasible.

Fresh & Easy Buzz has estimated it will cost Tesco $25 million -to- $30 million to make the Stockton distribution center fully operational.

Further, in order to be self-distributing out of Stockton for its Northern California division, it's my analysis Fresh & Easy needs annualized sales of at least $200 million in the region, from a economies-of-scale standpoint. That's the annual sales volume to begin the self-distribution from the facility. But not to make the distribution center operationally efficient. Tesco reported overall sales of $544 million for its fiscal year 2009/10, which ended in February 2010. My estimate is the chain is currently doing slightly under $600 million in annualized sales. [See - April 20, 2010: Strong Group Revenue & Profit For Tesco... But $253 Million Loss at Fresh & Easy]

Tesco announced on August 19 it plans to open its first eight Fresh & Easy units in Northern California in "early 2001." [See - 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.]

That Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market plans to supply the Northern California stores out of its Southern California distribution center comes as no surprise to Fresh & Easy Buzz or 'The Insider.' We've suggested in the blog and on our @FreshNEasyBuzz Twitter feed it's something the grocer should consider doing.

Long-distance distribution

Tesco's Fresh & Easy will have to take some special steps in order to supply the stores in the northern region of California out of its Riverside County facility, however.

For example, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) requires (by law) that truck drivers can only drive for a straight eight-hour period, and then must stop and lay off for eight hours. It's about 450 miles - at least an eight hour trip and often longer, particularly in winter when it snows on the "Grapevine" over Interstate 5 - from Fresh & Easy's Riverside County distribution facility to the San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento/Vacaville regions (a little less to Modesto and Stockton in the Northern Central Valley, but not much), where the majority of the planned Northern California Fresh & Easy stores are located. This means a single driver can't make the trip from the Riverside County facility and deliver to the stores in Northern California.

Because of this factor, Fresh & Easy will either have to use a driver team - starting with two drivers, one pilots the rig from Riverside County to say Stockton, then the other driver takes over to make the deliveries to the stores - or have a single driver start out from Southern California, bring the load to say Stockton (or elsewhere), then have a second driver waiting at the Stockton facility yard to take over to make the deliveries to the stores. Since Tesco is paying for the Stockton facility, it could use it as a transfer depot under scenario number two above.

There is precedent for grocers and distributors supplying stores in Northern California from Southern California. For example, Kroger Co.'s Ralphs supplies its Foods Co stores in Northern California out of a southern distribution facility.

And even better case study vis-a-vis Tesco's Fresh & Easy is WinCo Foods. Idaho-based WinCo Foods operates 12 huge discount food and grocery stores in Southern California. (The grocer's stores average 90,000 -to- 100,000 square-feet. One WinCo store is a big as 10 Fresh & Easy markets.) Six of the 12 Southern California WinCo markets are in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Riverside County is where the Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market distribution center is located.

WinCo Foods distributes to its Southern California stores from its Northern California distribution center in Modesto, which is where one of the first eight Fresh & Easy stores in the north state will open in early 2011. Modesto is 30 miles from Stockton, where the Northern California Fresh & Easy facility is located.

In addition to the two self-distributing retailers detailed above, two natural foods wholesalers, Nature's Best and Tree of Life, supply supermarkets and natural foods stores in Northern California from facilities located in Southern California, and have been doing so for many years. Tree of Life distributes fill-in (what Safeway Stores, Inc. doesn't procure direct) natural, organic, and specialty foods products to the 200-plus Safeway supermarkets in Northern California out of its Southern California distribution center near Los Angeles, as well as to some natural foods stores and independent grocers. Nature's best services numerous high-volume natural foods stores in Northern California, along with independent supermarkets, out of its Southern California headquarters and distribution facility. It's been doing so for decades.

Challenges

Supplying stores in Northern California from Southern California isn't without it challenges however, particularly for a self-distributing retailer like Fresh & Easy. Keep in mind Tree of Life (now owned by Kehe Food Distributors) and Natures Best are wholesalers. As long as they fulfill a retail customer's order and get it there when they say they will, they have done their job. Out-of-stocks thus aren't the wholesaler's problem, unless it's due to problems in its procurement and order-filling systems.

The chief difficulty for Fresh & Easy will be order lead time. For example, for a store in Northern California to get a grocery delivery from Southern California on a Monday morning, the ordering process, even with continuous replenishment which Fresh & Easy uses, has to be made and processed earlier than normal in order to allow for the at least eight hours it takes for a truck to get from Riverside County to Stockton or another nearby city in the north.

Let's say the San Francisco or Pacifica stores in the Bay Area (two of the first eight to open in early 2011) are to get Monday morning deliveries, which is key in order to replenish after the weekend. That means the truck with those store's orders must leave Fresh & Easy's Riverside County distribution center at about 9 pm on Sunday night.

Further, let's say the truck has two drivers. Driver one starts out from Riverside County. Eight hours later - at 5 am Monday - he arrives in Stockton. His eight hours are up. Driver two takes over to make the deliveries, first to the San Francisco store (arriving around 7 am), which is about two hours from Stockton in commute traffic, then goes on to Pacifica (about 30-40 minutes from the San Francisco store) and any other stores on the route. Remember, driver two has only eight hours to make the deliveries.

Since the truck must leave the Riverside County distribution center at around 9 pm on Sunday night to make the Monday morning deliveries in Northern California, the orders must be picked early on Sunday, which means they must be processed a considerable time before that.

What's even more of a challenge though in distributing from south-to-north are shorts and out-of-stocks. For example, let's say on that Monday delivery scenario above, ten percent of the items ordered are shorted by the Riverside County distribution center. Some were out-of-stock, others were picking mistakes, and a few just didn't get put on the truck. It happens all the time. Normally, with a local distribution center, stores could get many of those items the next day. However, because of the time lag distributing south-to-north, it's much more difficult to solve these types of shortages in 24 hours or less.

The south-to-north distribution will be particularly challenging for Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market in its fresh-prepared foods category. The items have a short shelf-life, which means the added delivery time will create the potential for more shrinkage at store-level than if the products were being distributed to the Northern California stores out of Stockton. And of course, combination refrigerated-dry grocery trailors will have to be used to deliver the products from the south to Northern California, which Fresh & Easy already uses.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy does have a track record in long distance distribution in that it distributes to its 27 stores in Metro Las Vegas, Nevada and 34 stores Metro Phoenix, Arizona out of the Riverside County facility in Southern California. Its about 250 miles from Riverside County to Metro Las Vegas and about 325 miles from the Riverside distribution center to Metro Phoenix. The distance to the Northern California stores however is nearly twice that to Metro Las Vegas, and at least 100 miles farther than to Metro Phoenix. As such, it presents more of a challenge to the grocer than it's experienced to date in terms of long distance distribution.

Fresh-prepared foods category

The category that presents the greatest challenge to Fresh & Easy in supplying the Northern California stores from Southern California is fresh-prepared foods, which comprise a significant number of the about 5,000 SKUs the Fresh & Easy stores stock. The refrigerated ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat food items also are a centerpiece of the chain's offering and merchandising.

Fresh & Easy already has a significant shrink problem in its fresh-prepared foods category, which is why it marks the items down by as much as 50% each day in its stores. They have short code dates and sales have been less than the grocer anticipated.

The added time required to distribute product from the south to the north means Fresh & Easy will have to be extremely diligent in how it orders the products for the stores because it will have to estimate the quantities somewhat in order to allow for the needed lead time in order processing, order picking and loading on the trucks at the Riverside distribution center, the eight-plus hour drive from the facility to Northern California, and the added hours delivering the items to the stores. In other words, the order-to-delivery cycle becomes shorter because of the long distance distribution system. Therefore, the grocer will have to tweak its replenishment system to operate in a more anticipatory way than it does for its 98 stores in Southern California in particular, and to a lessor but significant degree than it does for southern Nevada and Arizona.
If too much is ordered, that means more 50% markdowns and more shrink, throwing away what doesn't sell. If too little is ordered, that means out-of-stocks and lost sales.

Fresh foods kitchen-only option down the road

One thing Fresh & Easy could do as it gets a few dozen stores open is to set up a fresh-prepared foods kitchen at its Stockton distribution center in Northern California but continue to distribute all other categories out of Riverside. This would allow for better distribution to the stores, including decreased shrink and potential out-of-stocks, of the highly-perishable refrigerated ready-to-eat and ready-to-heat foods, while at the same time saving the expense of setting up and running a full distribution facility in the north.

'The Insider' wouldn't even think about operating a full Northern California distribution center (all categories) until there were about 100 Northern California stores up and running, with more in the pipeline. (I would hope the 100 stores would at least equal the $200 million in sales volume I mentioned at the top of my column.) At the point if the volume isn't sufficient, then it means the stores aren't doing well enough in general. Therefore, the problem is far greater than logistics and distribution.

Economies-of-scale & 0pportunities

A south-north distribution strategy makes the best sense for Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market for the near-to-medium term.

The economies of scale in setting up and operating a full distribution center at the Stockton facility for a handful of stores, with unproven sales, doesn't pan out. Remember, Tesco had planned to launch Fresh & Easy into Northern California by early 2009, having about 100 stores open by now in the region. Instead, I expect it to have in the range of 25 -to- 40 stores open in Northern California by the end of 2011. The rate of store openings is still being discussed at Tesco's Fresh & Easy. The Stockton facility was acquired and planned predicated on that 2007-2008 strategy.

Using two drivers - a tag team starting at Riverside or a hand-off scenario in Stockton or elsewhere in Northern California - will be more expensive than using one driver, obviously. But it will be far less costly than fully-setting up and operating the Stockton distribution center.

Additionally, with 159 stores currently, and annual sales volume of about $600 million in my estimation, Tesco's Fresh & Easy distribution center in Riverside County is nowhere near where it needs to be for optimum operating efficiencies. Therefore, distributing the Northern California sales volume out of the facility will help toward increasing its overall volume, getting closer to those efficiency goals.

The challenges of distributing from the south to the north though will be real ones for Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market. The grocer still has far too many out-of-stocks in many of its stores than it should, although its improved considerably from 2009, when it was very bad.

But taking all of the variables into consideration, I would do what Tesco's Fresh & Easy plans to do, distribute to the Northern California stores for the near-to-medium term out of the existing Riverside County facility. The one caveat being that I would start looking into setting up and operating a fresh-prepared foods kitchen-only at the Stockton facility for down the road.

Recent columns by 'The Insider'

~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

~July 13, 2010: A Few Words on The Life and Death of Veteran Southern California Grocer Roger K. Hughes

~June 27, 2010: The Insider: Will Tesco Acquire Supervalu, Inc. and Change its 'Fresh & Easy' Game in America?

~June 12, 2010: Will Phil Clarke Shake Things up at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market USA When He Becomes Tesco CEO in 2011?

~May 20, 2010: Welcome to Discountopia USA

~April 29, 2010: Heard on the Street: There's Something About Albertsons ... In Southern California

[Fresh & Easy Buzz Editor's Note: Below are the stories thus far in our Northern California Market Special Report Series.] [Photo credit: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.]

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

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
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Monday, April 13, 2009

Despite Postponing its Northern California Launch Again Earlier This Year Tesco's Fresh & Easy Planning Third San Francisco Store; First Stockton Unit


Upcoming New Markets Special Report: Northern California

Despite postponing its Northern California launch once again earlier this year, and having not yet opened any of the numerous Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market store sites it's paying monthly lease payments on in Northern California, Tesco is planning a third store in San Francisco, California, Fresh & Easy Buzz has learned.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy has also signed a lease for what will be its first small-format grocery and fresh foods market in the Northern San Joaquin Valley city of Stockton, in Northern California. Stockton is located about 75 miles from San Francisco and about 30 miles from Modesto, where we've previously reported the grocery chain now has three Fresh & Easy stores planned.

San Francisco

The planned third San Francisco Fresh & Easy market will be located at 32nd and Clement Street in the City's Richmond District.

The two other planned Fresh & Easy store locations in San Francisco are at 5800 Third Street and Carrol Avenue in the low-income Bayview-Hunters Point Neighborhood, and at Silver Avenue and Goettingen Street, which is a mixed-use residential and commercial neighborhood in the city off of the 101 freeway.

The 5800 Third Street Fresh & Easy store is a new, built from the ground up store which will be the ground floor retail anchor to what is a multi-unit residential condominium building currently being constructed at the location.

The Silver Avenue Fresh & Easy market is planned to go into what is a now vacant building that previously housed a Cala Foods supermarket. Like many of its current 118 stores in California (Southern and Bakersfield), southern Nevada and Metro Phoeniz, Arizona, the Silver Avenue vacant, former supermarket building will be gutted and remodeled by Tesco and turned ino one of its small-format combination grocery and fresh foods markets.

Cala is (or more precisely was) owned by Kroger Co. Kroger Co., through its Ralphs supermarkets division based in Southern California, exited the Northern California market a few years ago, selling off or closing its about 50 Ralphs' banner supermarkets and about 25 Cala and Bell Market banner stores in the region.

All of the Cala and Bell banner stores were in the Bay Area, most in San Francisco or nearby cities. The Ralphs' stores were in the Bay Area and parts of the Central Valley and Sacramento region.

Kroger's Southern California-based Ralphs still operates a couple Cala-Bell stores in the Bay Area, which it is in the process of either selling or closing.

It also operates a couple of its FoodsCo banner discount warehouse stores in the region, including one in San Francisco's Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood, not far from where Tesco is putting its Third Street Fresh & Easy market in the condominium development. Kroger-Ralphs has no plans to close the FoodsCo warehouse format stores in the region.

San Francisco's Richmond District is a part of the city, along with the next door Sunset District, that collectively also are referred to as "The Avenues," because its numbered streets -- all avenues -- start in the low numbers and run all the way to the high-forties as the streets get closer to the ocean. The Richmond and Sunset neighborhoods end at San Francisco's Ocean Beach, which is the end of land in the city's western portion.

The Richmond and Sunset neighborhoods, both the flatest residential parts of the city, run alongside San Francisco's famed Golden Gate Park -- the park is in the middle, dividing the two neigborhoods, which are two of the largest residential neighborhoods in the city in terms of the numbers of housing units and resident population. San Francisco's population is about 850,000.

There currently are a couple Safeway supermarkets in the Richmond district, along with a couple independent supermarkets. Safeway has a large store right near Ocean Beach that serves residents of both the Richmond and Sunset neighborhoods because of its central location. The store does are very high weekly sales volume.

Safeway Stores, Inc., which is the market share leader in the Bay Area and in the city of San Francisco, is based in Pleasanton, in the eastern part of the region, about 30 miles from San Francisco.

The 32nd and Clement proposed future Fresh & Easy store site once was home to a supermarket. However that store has since closed.

Tesco is only beginning the permitting and approval process for the 32nd and Clement store. And in San Francisco that can be a detailed and long process in terms of gaining approval.

For example, on Wednesday evening, April 15, Mark Warden, a vice president for the Costa Mesa-based Bergman Companies' design and building firm, will be making a presentation to the members of the Planning Association for the Richmond, which is an influencial group comprised of neighborhood residents, Fresh & Easy Buzz has learned. The group's mission is to guide planning and development in its neighborhood.

The presentation is from 7 -to- 9 p.m. at the Richmond Recreation Center, 251 18th Avenue, San Francisco. The Bergman Companies' Warden, representing Tesco's Fresh & Easy, will detail the grocer's plans for the site, including the store's design and other details, according to a member of the neighborhood group, and a notice on the planning association's Web site.

In San Francisco gaining the approval of neighborhood associations -- there's one in nearly every neighborhood in what is a city comprised of many distinct neigborhoods --is crucial to gaining approval from the city to build a commercial project like a retail store.

Most neighborhood groups in San Francisco tend to favor local retail stores over chains, although that doesn't mean chain stores don't get approval in the city. It often depends on the neighborhood. A couple neighborhoods though actually no longer allow chain retail stores of any kind.

San Francisco neighborhood associations like the Richmond District group look not only at a retailer's proposed design for a store when evaluating a proposal -- it's size, physical design, energy use -- they also look at the retail company proposing the store -- it's ethical reputation, environmental policies, whether its union or non-union, for example -- in evaluating if they will support the development or not.

Neighborhood associations in San Francisco don't legally make the decisions as to whether or not retailers get the green light on new retail store proposals in the city -- city government does. But the groups are so influential that seldom does a project a neighborhood association is against get build in San Francisco. On the plus side, it's very seldom if ever the city refuses to approve a retail project supported by a neighborhood association.

This is a key reason that Tesco's Fresh & Easy is having its representative make a presentation to the Richmond District neighborhood planning group.

Other new Northern California developments

Modesto

Fresh & Easy Buzz reported in this March 31, 2009 piece [Despite Having Postponed its Northern California Launch Indefinitely; Tesco's Fresh & Easy Planning Third Store in Modesto, California] that Tesco is building its newest and what it plans to be its third Fresh & Easy Neighborhood market store in the Northern California city of Modesto.

Modesto, which has a population of about 205,000 residents, is located about 90 miles from San Francisco in the Northern San JoaquinValley. Modesto is about a 45 minute drive from the nearest Bay Area city, Livermore, which is located in the Easy Bay region.

Fresh & Easy Buzz has now learned from a commercial real estate source that Tesco is looking closely at a handful of potential sites in Modesto for a possible future fourth Fresh & Easy store location in the city. None of the Fresh & Easy stores have yet to open in Modesto, or anywhere in Northern California.

Tesco hasn't confirmed the three Fresh & Easy planned store sites in Modesto that we've reported on. However we've documented each location through various means, including physical observation of the site, through commercial real estate sources, and via the California Alcoholic Beverage Control Department, in the case of the two stores -- Sylvan Square and Oakdale Road --that Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has already applied for on sale beer and wine licenses for.

We agreed at the request of our source not to mention the potential sites Tesco's Fresh & Easy is looking at in Modesto for a possible fourth store at this point in time.

Stockton

Tesco's Fresh & Easy is also planning to build a store in Stockton, California, which like Modesto is located in the Northern San Joaquin Valley. Stockton is about 30 miles from Modesto, about 75 miles from San Francisco, and about a 30 -to- 40 minute drive from Livermore. This is the first future Fresh & Easy store site in Stockton we've been able to document.

The planned first Stockton Fresh & Easy market will be located in a redevelopment project in Stockton's Midtown area on what is the location of a former State of California mental hospital which was closed some years ago.

The 103 acre redevelopment site is now owned by the California State University System. Commercial real estate developer Grupe Co. is redeveloping the site, which is called University Place.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has signed a 25-year lease for an about 14,000 square foot parcel in the redevelopment project where it will build a fresh & Easy store from the ground up, according to our sources. Grupe Co. verifies the lease.

Plans call for a mixed-use residential and commercial development, including condominiums and apartments, along with office buildings and retail stores, at the 103 acre site. The development also is the future home for a new satellite campus of the California State University System, hence its name -- University Place.

The closest state university campus is about 35 miles away, in Sacramento. California State University, Stanislaus, which is located about 45 miles from Stockton, in Turlock near Modesto in Stanislaus County, operates a small satellite campus in Stockton. Sacramento State University also offers some classes in Stockton. But the city wants its own comprehensive satellite campus.

Colliers International, which has an office in Stockton, is marketing the University Park redevlopment project in partnership with developer Grupe Co.

We said well over a year ago, when we first reported on Tesco Fresh & Easy's plans to open stores in Northern California, that the grocer would be locating stores in Stockton.

Our research shows that whenever Tesco's Fresh & Easy leases a site for an initial store in a city like Stockton, more units will follow. As a result, look for addialtion Fresh & Easy store locations to come in the city. In fact, we are aware that Tesco is currently shopping for sites for additional Stockton stores.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's store location strategy is one we've termed a "critical mass" store location strategy, meaning it likes to open and operate numerous stores, located not far from one another in a city, especially in larger cities like Stockton, which has a population of about 320,000. The Modesto example is a good one. It started with one planned store site and is now up to three planned locations.

In terms of the "critical mass" store location strategy, think about what Walgreens does with its drug stores and what Starbucks does with its cafes, opening numerous stores not far from each other in various neighborhoods in a city, hoping that the stores will become defacto neighborhood retail outlets by virtue of their mass availability throughout a given city's various neighborhoods. Critical retail mass.

This (the "critical mass" store location strategy) is what Tesco's Fresh & Easy has been and is doing in its current markets in California (Southern and Bakersfield), Metropolitan Las Vegas, Nevada and in the Phonix, Arizona Metro region. The strategic goal being to become the "neighborhood" grocery market of choice. There are 118 Fresh & Easy stores split between these market regions.

Stockton is where Tesco plans to build its Northern California distribution center. That distribution center is nowhere near completed however. In fact, Tesco has in our analysis intentionally postponed completing its Northern California distribution center as part of its decision to postpone its Fresh & Easy store launch into the region. Tesco has yet to confirm the distribution center will be located in the Stockton area.

As we first reported over a year ago, Tesco has and continues to look for potential Fresh & Easy store sites in cities throughout the Bay Area, the Sacramento-Vacaville region, and in Northern California's Northern San Joaquin Valley (and elsewhere in Northern California), near the cities of Stockton and Modesto. Those cities include Tracy, Manteca and Ripon, along with Turlock, Patterson and Merced, as well as others.

Tesco at present has eight Fresh & Easy locations planned for Fresno, which is about 45 miles south of Merced (which is 30 miles south of Modesto) in the central-near-southern Central Valley.

The grocery chain currently has three stores open and operating in Bakersfield, which is in the southern Central Valley, with plans to open six more in the coming months. Bakersfield is closer to Southern California geographically than it is to Fresno (Central California) and the Northern San Joaquin or Central Valley in Northern California. A good rule of thumb is that anything north of Merced, including Merced, is considered Northern California. Fresno -to- Bakersfield is generally considered Central California. Southern California begins once over the Grapevine, which seperates the southern valley from Los Angeles.

Fresh & Easy Northern California

Originally Tesco planned to have its first Northern California stores opened by mid-2008. Then it said the first stores in the region would open in late 2008. Early this year the grocery chain said it was postponing its Northern California launch indefinately, leaving open the date when it would open its first stores in the region.

Tesco has confirmed it plans to open and initial 37 stores in Northern California; 18 in the San Francisco Bay Area and 19 in the Sacrameno-Vacaville region of Northern California. It's now been over 15 months since it confirmed the 37 Northern California locations.

Fresh & Easy Buzz however has identified numerous additional Northern California planned locations in adition to the 37 announced and confirmed by Tesco's Fresh & Easy.

Below is a list of the 18 planned Fresh & Easy store locations in Northern California's San Francisco Bay Area that have been confirmed by Tesco. Tesco's Fresh & Easy officially announced the 18 locations in January, 2008. [Read our January 30, 2008 story here: [Fresh & Easy Goes On the Record: Announces 18 Northern California Stores in the Bay Area .] Fresh & Easy Buzz had already reported on a number of the planned Northern California locations prior to the public announcement/confirmation by Tesco

The 18 confirmed San Francisco Bay Area locations

>Antioch: Somersville & Buchanan roads; Lone Tree & Golf Course
>Concord: Clayton & Ygnacio Valley roads
>Danville: Diablo Road & Interstate 680]
>Fairfield: Beck Avenue & West Texas Street
>Hayward: Mission Boulevard & Rousseau Street; A Street & Hesperian Boulevard
>Mountain View: Middlefield Road & Rengstorff Avenue
>Napa: Jefferson Street & Imola Avenue
>Oakland: 73rd & Bancroft avenues
>Oakley: Laurel Road & Ohara Avenue
>San Francisco: Third Street & Carroll Avenue; Silver Avenue & Goettingen Street
>San Jose: Bird & Minnesota avenues; Almaden Road & Curtner Avenue
>Sunnyvale: Tasman Drive & Fair Oaks Avenue
>Vallejo: Oakwood Avenue & Springs Road
>Walnut Creek: Ygnacio Valley Road & San Carlos Drive.

Below is a list of the planned Northern California Fresh & Easy store locations identified and reported on by Fresh & Easy Buzz (with the exception of the Seaside and Oroville locations which were first reported on by local newspapers), but not confirmed to date by Tesco:

San Francisco Bay Area

>Vallejo (two sites). Two additional Fresh & Easy locations in Vallejo; in addition to the Oakwood Avenue unit in the city confirmed by Tesco as one of the 18 sites listed above. Read our report - May 21, 2008: Breaking News: Tesco Has Two New Fresh & Easy Stores in the Pipeline For San Francisco Bay Area; Brings Total to Date to 20 Units For the Region

>Pacifica: 5550 Coast Highway. Pacifica is located about 12 miles south of San Francisco. [Read our report - June 12, 2008: Upcoming New Markets News: Tesco to Locate Yet Another Fresh & Easy Store in San Francisco Bay Area; 21 Thus Far By Fresh & Easy Buzz's Reporting.]

[Related stories: October 7, 2008: Fresh & Easy Corporate Reps to Meet With Pedro Point Pacifica, CA Neighborhood Residents to Address Concerns Over Store to Open in 2009. October 9, 2008: Pacifica, CA Mayor Jim Vreeland Says He's Excited to Have Fresh & Easy Store Coming to Pedro Point; Says New Center Will Be One of the Best in Town. October 13, 2008: Pacifica Riptide & Fresh & Easy Buzz Join Together to Offer Pacifica, California Citizen Opinions On the Fresh & Easy Store Coming to the City.]

>Palo Alto: Edgewood Plaza Shopping Center. [Read our report - October 15, 2008: Tesco to Locate Fresh & Easy Store in Palo Alto, California; it's First in the City and SF Bay Area Store Number 22 By Our Reporting.] Note: We wrote this piece [ Upcoming New Markets Special Report: Upscale Palo Alto, California is Laying Out the Welcoming Mat to Grocers: Will Fresh & Easy Knock On the Door?] five months earlier, On June 12, 2008. Tesco's Fresh & Easy did come knocking at Palo Alto's door.

[Related story - March 19, 2009: Another Tesco Fresh & Easy Future Market City Bans the (Plastic) Bag: No Plastic Carrier Bags In Palo Alto, CA Supermarkets Starting September 18th.

Sacramento-Vacaville region

Click here to view a list and map of the 19 Tesco-confirmed Fresh & Easy stores in the Sacramento-Vacaville region in Northern California.

Sacramento-Vacaville region - not confirmed by Tesco

>Suisun City: Sunset Shopping Center. Sunset Avenue and State Highway 12. Suisun City is located between Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area, not far from the city of Vacaville. [Read our report - September 11, 2008: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Adds Another Store to its Sacramento-Vacaville Market Region Portfolio in Northern California.]

Elsewhere Northern California - not confirmed by Tesco

>Seaside: West Broadway Village Shopping Center. Seaside is located in Monterey County, in Northern California's south-central coast region. Note: The Herald (Monterey County) newspaper first broke the story on the Seaside location. We followed-up and verified the site. [Read our report - July 27, 2008: Fresh Buzz: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, Tesco PLC and Related Food Retailing News and Insight.]

>Modesto (3 stores thus far). (1) Sylvan Square Shopping Center; Coffee Road and Sylvan Avenue. (2) 1717 Oakdale Road. (3) Crows Landing Road near Whitmore Avenue.

[Read our reports: Sylvan Square - 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. 1717 Oakdale Road - November 6, 2008: Upcoming New Markets News: Tesco Will Open A Second Fresh & Easy Store in Modesto, California. Crows landing Road - March 31, 2009: Despite Having Postponed its Northern California Launch Indefinitely; Tesco's Fresh & Easy Planning Third Store in Modesto, California.]

>Oroville, Butte County: Goldtown Plaza Shopping Center. The local newspaper, the Oroville Mercury Register, first reported on this location. Fresh & Easy Buzz verifield the lease and added some details in our report. [Our report - December 4, 2008: Despite Postponing its Northern California Launch, Fresh & Easy Continues to Grab New Locations in the Region, Including Going Rural.] Oroville is located in a rural region north of Sacramento.

Possible but not yet verified category
>Grass Valley, Nevada County. The local The Union newspaper reported in December, 2008 that Tesco's Fresh & Easy was negotiating with the owner of a closed Ford auto dealership in the city's Goldtwon Plaza to lease the dealership for a Fresh & Easy store. We verified the negotiations but haven't been able to verify the signing of any lease. [Our report - December 4, 2008: Grasss Valley - More on the Northern California Rural Strategy: An Existing Ford Auto Dealership in Grass Valley, CA Could Become A New Fresh & Easy Market.] As a result, we put this potential location in the "possible but not varified category" and don't count it yet as a "verified" Northern California Fresh & Easy planned store location.

Updated May 6, 2009:

Below are additional planned Northern California Fresh & Easy store locations we've uncovered and reported on since this piece was published. Tesco's Fresh & Easy has not yet confirmed these planned locations:

San Francisco Bay Area

>San Francisco, California. 32nd and Clement, Richmond District. This is the third planned Fresh & Easy store for San Francisco thus far, based on our reporting See our April 13, 2009 story here: Despite Postponing its Northern California Launch Again Earlier This Year Tesco's Fresh & Easy Planning Third San Francisco Store; First Stockton Unit.

>Hercules, California. New Town Center planned development. Hercules is in the Easy Bay Area, in Contra Costa County. See our April 17, 2009 story here: Another Planned New Location For Tesco's Fresh & Easy in San Francisco Bay Area: Market to Be Retail Anchor of New Development in Hercules, CA.

>Pleasanton, California. Rose Pavillion Shopping Center. Santa Rita Drive and Rosewood Drive. Pleasanton is in the East Bay Area. See our April 19, 2009 story here: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Signs Lease For New Store in Pleasanton, CA; We Reported 15 Months Ago the SF Bay Area City Was in its Strategic Sites.

Elsewhere Northern California - not confirmed by Tesco

>Stockton, California. University Place development, Stockton. This is the first planned Fresh & Easy store for Stockton. Stockton is in the Northern San Joaquin Valley; about 30 miles from Modesto and 35 miles from Sacramento. See our April 17, 2009 story here: Despite Postponing its Northern California Launch Again Earlier This Year Tesco's Fresh & Easy Planning Third San Francisco Store; First Stockton Unit.

Related stories from Fresh & Easy Buzz:

>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 20, 2008: Analysis & Commentary: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market and Tesco's Lowered Expectations

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

>April 13, 2008: April 13, 2008: San Francisco: Cool Bay Breezes, A City Full of History, Cable Cars--And A 'Fresh & Easy' State of Mind

>July 29, 2008: Tesco's Fresh & Easy and San Francisco's Tenderloin Redux: Upcoming Developments Offer First Mover Opportunity For Fresh & Easy or Competitors

>December 29, 2008: Tesco's Fresh & Easy, 'Food Deserts' and WIC Vouchers; A 'Year-End' Analysis & Commentary

>September 30, 2008: News & Analysis: Tesco Reports Half-Year Financials; Reports Loss For Fresh & Easy USA and Sales Per Square Foot Averages

>September 17, 2008: Store Workers at Huntington Beach Fresh & Easy Demand Union Recognition From Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market

>November 16, 2008: California: The State of the State and its Economy; Governor to Propose Tax Increases and Massive Spending Cuts to Fix $11 Billion Budget Shortfall

>February 11, 2009: Tesco to Open Third Bakersfield, California Fresh & Easy Store On February 25.

>December 3, 2008: Tesco Opens its First Two California Fresh & Easy Stores Outside of Southern California in the Central Valley City of Bakersfield Today

>November 5, 2008: Upcoming New Markets News: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Confirms Bakersfield, CA Stores; Says First Two Will Open Next Month on December 3rd, 2008

>March 10, 2008: Bakersfield, California Region Next Up On the Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market New Store Parade

>May 24, 2008: Upcoming New Markets Special Report: The Changing 'Face' of Retailing in Bakersfield, California

>March 26, 2008: Mid-Week Tesco Fresh & Easy Roundup

>May 14, 2008: Fresh & Easy Buzz Exclusive: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Plans to Open Five Stores In the Fresno, California Metropolitan Region

>March 8, 2008: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Northern California DC Likely to Be At Arch Road Site In Stockton

>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

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

>January 28, 2008: Fresh & Easy Applies For Liquor Licenses for Four Sacramento, California Stores

>Monday, November 17, 2008: Sacramento City Design Board Agrees With Oak Park Group on Design Changes For Proposed Fresh & Easy Store; Escrow Closed on $1.1 Million Parcel

>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'

>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

>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

>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

>October 9, 2008: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Has Put 16 of its 93 Stores in Formerly Vacant Supermarket Buildings and Plans to Do More Coversions While the Deals Are Hot

>February 19, 2008: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Serving as an Economic Stimulus Package of Sorts for California's Troubled Commercial Retail Real Estate Industry

>January 30, 2009: Competitor News: Safeway Stores, Inc. Confirms Second Small-Format 'The Market' Unit to Be in San Jose, CA; Fresh & Easy Buzz Nailed it in June, 2008

>December 30, 2008: Competitor News: Smart & Final Appears Pleased With its Eight Hybrid 'Extra' Format Stores, More On the Way in 2009

>December 12, 2008: Competitor News: Safeway CEO Steve Burd Says Small-Format 'The Market' Is 'Good' So Far But Not 'Great;' But Must Be 'Great' in Order To Expand

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

>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

>May 18, 2008: Wal-Mart Looking For Sites in California For it's Small-Format 'Marketside' Grocery

>Tesco thus far has a couple Fresh & Easy stores planned for Northern Nevada, which is much closer geographically to Northern California (less than three hours from Sacramento), and is a much more similar market to Northern California than it is to southern Nevada, which is one of Tesco Fresh & Easy's existing market regions, along with Southern California, Bakersfield and Metro Phoenix, Arizona. Story link: Reno-Sparks, Nevada.

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