Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Bags New Store Location in San Francisco's Mission District

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

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has inked a deal with the building's landlord to renovate and move into the former Delano's IGA Markets' grocery store (pictured at top) at 1245 South Van Ness Avenue (at 23rd Street) in San Francisco's Mission District, Fresh & Easy Buzz has learned.

Delano's IGA Markets closed the Mission District store along with four others in December 2010. See our stories - November 30, 2010: DeLano's IGA Markets Closing Five Stores in San Francisco & Marin County; Fairfax, Davis Units to Remain Open (For Now); and November 29, 2010: Veteran Grocer Harley DeLano's 'DeLano IGA Markets' Chain On the Verge of Closure in San Francisco Bay Area.

We reported on and wrote about Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's attempt to bag the South Van Ness Avenue location in this January 26, 2011 story: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is On A Mission - In San Francisco's Mission District.

In addition to Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, locally-based salvage and discount grocery chain Grocery Outlet has been vying for the location at 1245 South Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco. Grocery Outlet, which is headquartered just across the bay from San Francisco in Berkeley, is fast-growing, aiming to double its store count over a five year period that began in 2009.

According to our sources, Tesco's Fresh & Easy has won out and has or will be signing a multi-year lease with landlord of the vacant Delano's IGA Markets store at 1245 South Van Ness Avenue.

The Mission District location will be Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's fourth site in San Francisco.

On Wednesday, June 22, United Kingdom-based Tesco opens its first Fresh & Easy store in the city, at 32nd and Clement street in the Outer Richmond District.

The second Fresh & Easy market is set to open in San Francisco on August 24. The store is in the 5800 Third Street residential housing development at 3rd Street and Carroll Avenue in the city's Bayview District.

We broke the news on the opening dates of Fresh & Easy's two San Francisco stores. Read our story here - May 23, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Confirms Our Reports First Two San Francisco Stores to Open June 22 and August 24, 2011

Tesco's third Fresh & Easy store location in San Francisco is at Silver Avenue and Goettingen, which is in the Portola District.

The grocery chain has yet to begin renovations on the vacant building in the Portola District, which formerly housed a Cala Foods supermarket. Tesco's Fresh & Easy leased the property in late 2007-early 2008.

The Mission District location at 1245 South Van Ness, which will be the fourth Fresh & Easy location in San Francisco to date based on our reporting, was also home to a Cala Foods supermarket, which was closed by Kroger Co. a number of years ago.

Delano's IGA Markets took over the location a few years ago, along with the other four it closed late last year, from Kroger's Cala/Bell Markets division, which has just one store left in Northern California, at 1095 Hyde Street on Nob Hill in San Francisco, which it's closing at the end of this year.

Kroger's Southern California-based Ralphs/Food 4 Less operates the Foods Co chain of discount warehouse stores in Northern California, which it's in the process of growing in terms of developing and opening new stores. (Click on this link Northern California Special Report to read about Kroger's plans for Foods Co in Northern California.)

Kroger Co. decided a number of years ago to close the Cala/Bell Markets chain. It sold or closed all of the about 25 Cala Foods and Bell Market stores (all were in the San Francisco Bay Area) over a period of a few years, except for the remaining unit in San Francisco.

Related Stories

February 17, 2011: Mollie Stone's Markets Planning to Open Newest Store in San Francisco First Week in March

January 26, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is On A Mission - In San Francisco's Mission District

January 13, 2011: Mollie Stone's Markets Taking Over Closed 18th Street Delano's IGA Market in San Francisco's Castro District

January 28, 2011: Mollie Stone's Markets Confirms Our January 13 Report; Announces New San Francisco Store Via Twitter & Facebook

November 30, 2010: DeLano's IGA Markets Closing Five Stores in San Francisco & Marin County; Fairfax, Davis Units to Remain Open (For Now)

November 29, 2010: Veteran Grocer Harley DeLano's 'DeLano IGA Markets' Chain On the Verge of Closure in San Francisco Bay Area

January 26, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is On A Mission - In San Francisco's Mission District

Plus: see (click on) the following links for additional, related stories: Fresh and Easy Northern California, Fresh and Easy San Francisco Bay Area, Northern California, Northern California Special Report, SF Bay Area.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Confirms Our Reports First Two San Francisco Stores to Open June 22 and August 24, 2011

The Fresh & Easy store at 32nd Street and Clement Avenue in San Francisco's Outer Richmond District. The photo was taken two weeks ago. The exterior is completed. The interior is about 30% completed as of today. Click here to see additional photos. [Photo copyright Fresh & Easy Buzz.]

Tesco's Fresh & Easy in Northern California - 2011

On May 10, 2011 we reported exclusively that Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market would open its first store in San Francisco, at 32nd Street and Clement Avenue in the Outer Richmond District, on June 22.

Read our story here - May 10, 2011: Breaking Buzz: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Plans to Open First San Francisco Store at 32nd and Clement June 22.

Four days later, on May 14, 2011, we reported exclusively the 175-store small-format fresh food and grocery chain would open its second Fresh & Easy unit in the City by the Bay, at 3rd Street and Carrol Avenue in the Bayview District, on August 24, 2011

Read our story here - May 14, 2011: Breaking Buzz: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Plans August 24 Opening For Third & Carroll Store in San Francisco's Bayview District.

Today Tesco's Fresh & Easy confirmed our reporting when it announced in a press release (see here), which is being reprinted by numerous publications, it will open the 32nd Avenue and Clement Street store June 22, and the 3rd Street and Carroll store in the 5800 Third Street residential-commercial mixed-use development in the Bayview District August 24, 2011.

Interesting press release mates

In today's press release confirming our reporting, Tim Mason, CEO of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market and group deputy CEO of United Kingdom-based Tesco, said about the grocer's opening of its first two stores in San Francisco: "We could not be more thrilled with the strong performance of our first 11 stores in Northern California and we're excited to get our doors open in San Francisco. Judging by the fantastic reception we've seen from customers throughout the Bay Area, we are certain these stores will also be a hit."

Eric Mar, who represents the Richmond District (where the first Fresh & Easy store at 32nd Street and Clement Avenue opens June 22) on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, is also quoted in today's press release distributed by Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, saying: "I look forward to the Fresh & Easy store opening and welcoming a new business that is partnering with the community and giving back to schools and community organizations in the Richmond District."

Interestingly, Supervisor Mar is a major supporter of AB 183, the bill authored by Assemblywomen Fiona Ma (Democrat-San Francisco) - who lives in and represents the Richmond District in the California State Assembly - that if passed by the full assembly and California State Senate and signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown, would likely force Tesco's Fresh & Easy to change its all self-service checkout system in its California stores (currently 126 units), adding what most likely will at a minimum have to be one self-service checkout stand in each store.

AB 183 prohibits the sale of alcoholic beverages at self-service checkout stands, instead requiring a store clerk to be present to wait on customers who purchase alcoholic beverage items in a grocery or other format retail store that offers them for sale.

We call the legislation the "Son of Tesco Fresh & Easy Law" because the bill is virtually identical to two other bills authored by Assemblyman Hector De La Torre (Democrat-Southgate/Southern California) in 2008 - AB 523 - and 2010 - AB 1060.

We first nicknamed the legislation, that if it becomes law will ban the sale of alcoholic beverages at self-service checkout stands, the "Tesco Fresh & Easy Law" in this July 14, 2008 story: Breaking News & Analysis: CA Assemblyman Introduces 'Tesco Fresh & Easy Law' to Ban Stores With Self-Checkout-Only From Selling Alcoholic Beverages; using the nickname again in a number of stories in 2010 when Assemblyman De La Torre introduced AB 1060, after AB 523 failed to pass both houses of the California State Legislature in 2008.

AB 1060 passed both the full assembly and senate last year but was vetoed by then Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who's been the subject of much media attention since last week over his revelation that he fathered a child with a former domestic employee of the Schwarzenegger-Shriver household.

We coined the "Son of Tesco Fresh & Easy Law" moniker this year when AB 183, which is virtually identical to the previous two bills, was introduced by Assemblywomen Ma, who's also Speaker Pro Tempore of the California State Assembly, its number two leadership position, this year. [For example, read this story - May 4, 2011: 'Son of Tesco Fresh & Easy Law': Strong Chance California Legislation to Prohibit Alcohol Sales at Self-Service Checkouts Could Pass This Year.]

[You can read our coverage from July 2008 to the present of the California legislation that would ban the sale of alcoholic beverages at self-service checkout stands here.]

Ma's AB 183 was passed by a big majority in the Democrat-controlled California State Assembly's Appropriations Committee on May 11 and is headed for a vote by the full assembly. [Read our May 11, 2011 story about the bill's passage in the committee here: May 11, 2011: ‘Son of Tesco Fresh & Easy Law' - California Assembly Appropriations Committee Passes Self-Checkout Ban Bill AB 183 By 12-4 Margin.]

On April 8 of this year, Richmond District-San Francisco Supervisor Mar participated in a major rally along with Assemblywoman Ma and other key supporters of AB 183 on the steps of San Francisco's City Hall, calling for the passage of the bill that if passed and signed into law would ban the sale of alcohol at self-service checkout stands.

Among the bill's supporters at the rally led by Ma and Mar included representatives from: Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), alcoholic beverage industry watchdog group the Marin Institute, San Francisco's Police and Fire Departments, the San Francisco District Attorney's office, San Francisco's Metro Methodist Ministries and a group of high school students from various city schools who are in favor of the proposed self-service checkout booze sales ban.

Assemblywoman Ma is termed out of office in the California State Assembly at the end of this year. She's running for the California State Senate.

Talk in political circles in San Francisco and Sacramento is that Supervisor Eric Mar could run for Ma's Assembly seat since she's leaving office at the end of the year. Ma's district includes additional parts of western San Francisco and portions of nearby San Mateo County along with the Richmond District.


The 3rd Street and Carroll Avenue Fresh & Easy store in San Francisco's Bayview District. The photo was taken about 10 days ago. The exterior has been completed since late last year. Work started on the store's interior recently. Click here to view additional photos of the store. [Photo Copyright Fresh & Easy Buzz.]

Tesco's Fresh & Easy in San Francisco

In addition to the stores at 32nd Street and Clement Avenue and 3rd Street and Carroll Avenue in San Francisco that Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has confirmed it will open June 22 and August 24, 2011, the Tesco-owned fresh food and grocery chain has a third location in the city, at Silver Avenue and Goettingen, which is in the Portola District.

The Portola District location is, like the 3rd Street and Carroll Avenue unit, one of the first batch of 18 stores Tesco's Fresh & Easy announced in January 2008 it planned to open in Northern California's San Francisco Bay Area.

In February 2008 Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market announced another 19 planned locations in Northern California, in the Sacramento-Vacaville region.

No construction work has been started to date on the vacant building at Silver and Goettingen, which previously housed a Cala Foods/Bell Market grocery store. Tesco has been paying the monthly rent/lease on the building since at least early 2008.

Thus far Tesco has opened 11 Fresh & Easy stores in Northern California - nine in the San Francisco Bay Area, one in Vacaville, which is about midway between the Bay Area and Sacramento, and onei n Modesto, which is in the Northern Central Valley. We've identified in our research and reporting over 50 Fresh & Easy locations in Northern California. You can see those locations here.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has also made an offer to lease a vacant building at 1245 South Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco's Mission District which until the end of last year was home to a Delano's IGA Market grocery store. Read our January 26, 201 story here: January 26, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is On A Mission - In San Francisco's Mission District.

Not long after Tesco's Fresh & Easy approached the owner of the building, fast-growing locally-headquartered grocery chain Grocery Outlet, which is based in nearby Berkeley, also made an offer to lease the vacant Mission District building, so it could open one of its salvage/discount grocery stores at the location.

The most recent information we have is that the San Francisco Economic Development Department is working with the landlord in terms of making a decision as to which grocer will be given the lease for the building.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is also looking for additional locations in San Francisco.

For example, the grocer is potentially interested in locating a store in a vacant 13,000 square-foot building at Noe and Market Street in San Francisco's Castro District that Trader Joe's had planned to put a store in but decided against doing because of various parking conditions the City of San Francisco required of the ionic grocery chain as a condition of locating a store in the building and neighborhood. The building has been vacant for over three years and last was home to a Tower Records store. Sacramento-based Tower Records went bankrupt a few years ago.

The city did the same thing with Whole Foods Market for a store it proposed last year on Market Street in the Castro District. Whole Foods' agreed to the conditions however, which among other things will require parking attendants to be made available by the grocer during certain store opening hours. Whole Foods Market plans to began construction on the store, which is the ground floor anchor of a new high-rise development, in late 2011 or early 2012, with an eye towards opening the store next year

In March of this year San Francisco Supervisor Scott Wiener, who was involved in initially luring Trader Joe's to the location at Noe and Market Street in the Castro District, which he represents on the board, started reaching out to other grocers, including Tesco's Fresh & Easy and the earlier mentioned Grocery Outlet, asking them to consider locating a store in the vacant building. To date, neither Fresh & Easy or any other grocers have signed a lease for the location, according to the Supervisor.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is also looking for additional store locations in San Francisco, which is a topic we'll be reporting on and writing about in an upcoming story.

Meanwhile, Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has today publicly confirmed our May 10 and May 14 stories that the opening dates of its first two stores in San Francisco - which not only is a city where people leave their hearts but is also a town who's residents spend a higher percentage of their income on food and groceries than people who live in nearly any other city in the United States.

Related Stories

[Readers: Click on the following green links - Fresh and Easy Northern California, Fresh and Easy San Francisco Bay Area, 32nd Clement, 5800 Third Street, Northern CA Launch, Northern California Market Region, Tesco's Fresh and Easy in Norcal 2011 and Northern California Special Report - for our extensive coverage, reporting, analysis and more on the two San Francisco stores and of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market in Northern California, including the San Francisco Bay Area.]

Breaking Buzz: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Plans to Open Second Store in Hayward, California August 10

[Related Stories: May 14, 2011: Breaking Buzz: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Plans August 24 Opening For Third & Carroll Store in San Francisco's Bayview District; May 10, 2011: Breaking Buzz: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Plans to Open First San Francisco Store at 32nd and Clement June 22.]

Tesco's Fresh & Easy in Northern California - 2011

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market plans to open its second store in the Northern California city of Hayward on August 10, Fresh & Easy Buzz has learned.

The store set for the August 10, 2011 opening is located at A Street and Hesperian Boulevard in Hayward, which is in the East Bay Area, about a 45-minute drive from San Francisco.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy hasn't announced when the Hesperian Boulevard store in Hayward will open.

In fact, it hasn't announced the opening dates for any of its future locations in Northern California, beyond the 11 units it opened in March and April 2011. But that's not unusual because the grocer generally announces planned new store openings about 3-4 weeks before the opening date.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market opened its first store in Hayward - at Mission Boulevard & Rousseau - on April 27, 2011 [See - March 15, 201: San Francisco, Antioch and Fairfield Stores Next Up in Northern California For Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market; and April 27, 2011: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market at 175 (Stores): Three New Stores Open in Northern California Today]

The A Street and Hesperian Boulevard store, like the unit at Mission Boulevard and Rousseau, is one of the original 18 small-format (10,000-12,000 square-feet of selling space) Fresh & Easy markets Tesco announced in January 2008 it planned to open in the San Francisco Bay Area.

So far the grocery chain has opened six of those original 18 Bay Area units announced in January 2008 - one store respectively in San Jose, Concord, Danville, Hayward, Napa and Walnut Creek. All but the San Jose (South Bay) and Napa (North Bay) stores are in the East Bay Area region.

In February 2008 Tesco's Fresh & Easy announced it would open 19 locations in Northern California's Vacaville and Sacramento areas. The store in Vacaville - at Elmira Road and Nut Tree Road - which was opened on March 16, was one of the 19 Sacramento-Vacaville region stores on the grocer's list in February 2008.

The other four Fresh  Easy grocery markets opened this year (for a total of 11 units) - in Pacifica (5550 Coast Highway - read about here), San Jose (Saratoga and Payne - read about here ), Modesto (1717 Oakdale Road -Read about here) and Pleasanton (Santa Rita Road and Rosewood Drive - read about here) - are all locations Tesco obtained after its announcements in January and February 2008.

Fresh & Easy didn't confirm or announce any of the four locations when it announced the final 11 stores it would open first in Northern California in "early 2011." But we've identified and reported on all four locations, doing so in a series of stories from 2008-2010. If you click on the green "read about here" links in the paragraph above, you can read each of those stories as it pertains to the respective store noted.

Tesco originally planned to start opening its Northern California Fresh & Easy store locations in early-to-mid 2009. But after a couple postponements, it finally opened its first two stores - in San Jose and Danville - on March 2, 2011.

So far this year the retailer has opened 11 Fresh & Easy grocery markets in Northern California. All were opened in March and April.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has no new store openings announced for May, including for Northern California.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy hasn't opened any of its planned stores in the Sacramento region to date.

It's opened one of two planned stores in Vacaville so far this year. That unit, which opened March 16, is at Elmira Road and Nut Tree Road. The other yet to be opened Fresh & Easy location in Vacaville is at Alamo and Marshall. Vacaville is about midway between Sacramento and the Bay Area, on Interstate 80.

In addition to the 37 Fresh & Easy stores Tesco announced in early 2008 it would open in Northern California, through our reporting we've so far identified and reported on an additional 23 planned units Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has acquired in Northern California, along with four stores in Northern Nevada. See here.

None of these stores, except for the four that have opened so far this year, as noted earlier in the story, have been announced by Tesco's Fresh & Easy.

The Hayward store at A Street and Hesperian Boulevard Fresh & Easy plans to open on August 10 makes five stores, beyond the 11 units the grocer has already opened in Northern California so far this year, we've reported it plans to open this year.

Yesterday we reported Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is planning to open its store at 3rd Street and Carroll Avenue in San Francisco on August 24, 2011 [See - May 14, 2011: Breaking Buzz: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Plans August 24 Opening For Third & Carroll Store in San Francisco's Bayview District.]

On May 10, 2011 we reported in this story - Breaking Buzz: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Plans to Open First San Francisco Store at 32nd and Clement June 22 - Tesco's Fresh & Easy has a June 22, 2011 date set to open its first store in San Francisco, at 32nd Avenue and Clement Street in the city's Richmond District.

And on March 15, 2011, we reported in this story - San Francisco, Antioch and Fairfield Stores Next Up in Northern California For Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market - that the grocery chain has two stores in the Bay Area cities of Antioch and Farfield to be opened as soon construction on the two units is completed, the stores are stocked and employees hired.

The Antioch store is new, built-from-the-ground-up construction, and the Farfield unit is a renovation of an existing building.

No internal dates have yet been set at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market for the opening of the Antioch and Farfield stores, according to our sources. The Antioch unit is at Lone Tree & Golf Course and the Farfield store is at Beck Avenue and West Texas

Unlike the two units in San Francisco, both of which are completed and are getting the interior work done, the Antioch and Farfield stores are still in earlier stages of construction. However, since our story was published, Fresh & Easy has posted online advertisements for store managers for both units.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has already hired the manager for the A Street and Hesperian Boulevard store in Hayward, which is set to open August 10. The store's future manager is currently working as co-manager of the Mission Boulevard and Rousseau store in Hayward, which opened April 27.

Related Stories

[Readers: Click here (see the links at the bottom) and on the following links - Fresh and Easy Northern California, Fresh and Easy San Francisco Bay Area, Northern California Market Region, Tesco's Fresh and Easy in Norcal 2011 - for related stories from late 2007 to the present. Click on this link - Northern California Special Report - to read our April-December 2010 'Northern California Special Report' series.]Tesco's Fresh & Easy in Northern California - 2011

Breaking Buzz: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Plans to Open First San Francisco Store at 32nd and Clement June 22




The exterior of the 32nd and Clement Fresh & Easy store (above) is 99.9%  completed. All that's needed are some minor stucco repairs and touching up. [See photo-use guidelines at bottom.]

Tesco's Fresh & Easy in Northern California - 2011

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is planning to open its first store in San Francisco, California - at 32nd Avenue and Clement Street in the Outer Richmond District - June 22, 2011, Fresh & Easy Buzz has learned.

We stress "plans" to open because as we regularly note in the blog, new store opening dates are fluid and subject to change at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, as evidenced by numerous past examples.

However, based on our multiple source information about the opening date, we have a high degree of confidence that unless something unforeseen happens between now and about mid-June, the doors to the former Albertsons supermarket and soon to be small-format Fresh & Easy fresh food and grocery store at 32nd Avenue and Clement Street in San Francisco's Outer Richmond District - often referred to as being in the heart of San Francisco's fog belt - will open for business on June 22.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has not announced the planned opening date for the San Francisco store at 32nd Avenue and Clement Street, or for that matter that it plans to open any stores in any of its current market regions in June.

The 32nd Avenue and Clement Street Fresh & Easy store also has a unique twist - a CVS Pharmacy drug store will be located in the same building, with an entrance located next door to the Fresh & Easy market, as you can see in the photograph above.

Construction is also currently going on inside the CVS drug store.

A work crew is at present working full eight hour days, six days a week, to get the 32nd Avenue and Clement Street Fresh & Easy grocery store ready for its planned June 22 opening.

The Outer Richmond District store's exterior is essentially finished, needing just a few minor touch ups, as you can see in the two recently taken photographs, above and at top.

Work inside the store has a considerable amount to go before the store is ready to open, although progress is rapidly being made.

The in-ground plumbing and electrical are completed, and when we visited the site recently the workers were hanging the sheet rock, as you can see in the photograph below, which was taken during that recent visit.

From there, because the Fresh  Easy interior package is fairly modular, workers can install refrigerated and freezer cases, shelving, check out stands and other interior features rather rapidly. For example, we've seen more than one Fresh & Easy store at the same stage as the 32nd Avenue and Clement Street interior is at completed in 4-6 weeks' time.

Tesco currently operates 11 Fresh & Easy stores in Northern California, all opened in March-April of this year. The locations of the 11 Northern California units are listed at the bottom.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, which currently has 175 stores in California (126 units), Nevada (21 units) and Arizona (28 units) is taking the month of May off from opening new stores, after having opened 21 units so far this year - 11 in Northern California and 10 in Southern California.

Of the 126 Fresh & Easy grocery markets in California, 101 units are in Southern California, Eleven stores are in Northern California; and there are seven units each respectively in the Bakersfield and Fresno metro regions.

Below are the locations (with dates opened in bold) of the 11 Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market stores in Northern California:

March 2nd, 2011

>Bird Ave. & Minnesota Ave., San Jose, California
>Diablo Blvd. & Hwy 680, Danville, California

March 9th, 2011

>Cabrillo Hwy. & Linda Mar Blvd., Pacifica, California

March 16th, 2011

>Clayton Rd. & Ygnacio Valley Rd., Concord, California
>Elmira Rd. & Nut Tree Rd., Vacaville, California

March 23rd, 2011

>Oakdale Rd. & Lancey Dr., Modesto, California

>Ygnacio Valley Rd. & San Carlos Rd., Walnut Creek, California

April 13th, 2011

>Rosewood Dr. & Santa Rita Rd., Pleasanton, California

April 27th, 2011

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

Related Stories

March 15, 201: San Francisco, Antioch and Fairfield Stores Next Up in Northern California For Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market

April 27, 2011: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market at 175 (Stores): Three New Stores Open in Northern California Today

Additionally, click here to view numerous past, related stories about Tesco's Fresh & Easy in Northern California - 2011.

[Editor's Note: All photographs copyright Fresh & Easy Buzz. Writers and editors - you have permission to use the photographs in your publications as long as you  (1) provide a photo credit to Fresh & Easy Buzz in your story and (2) include a live link to this story with the photo credit.]

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market at 175 (Stores): Three New Stores Open in Northern California Today

News/Analysis

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market opened three stores today in Northern California, giving the small-format fresh food and grocery chain, owned by United Kingdom-based Tesco, a total of 11 units in the region. [See - April 26, 2011: Behind the Buzz: Tesco Opens Three New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores in Northern California Tomorrow.]

The three new stores, in Hayward (Mission Boulevard and Rousseau Street), San Jose (Saratoga Avenue and Payne Avenue) and Napa (Imola Avenue and Jefferson Street), are the last batch of the 11 Fresh & Easy markets Tesco-owned El Segundo, California-based Fresh & Easy has to date announced it will open in Northern California in early 2011.

However, as we've reported, Tesco's Fresh & Easy is preparing additional stores for spring-to-summer openings.

On March 15, 2011, we reported here - San Francisco, Antioch and Fairfield Stores Next Up in Northern California For Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market - that Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has four stores next in line for Northern California openings. Two of the stores are in San Francisco - at Third Avenue and Carroll Avenue and 32nd Street and Clement. The other two units are in Antioch and Farfield. (See the story linked above for details.)

As of today, Tesco's Fresh & Easy hasn't announced new store openings for May, including in Northern California.

Based on our reporting, the two San Francisco stores noted above will be the first of the group to open, possibly at the end of May, but more likely in June. (We'll have more on this development in an upcoming story.)

There are now 175 Fresh & Easy stores open and operating in California, Nevada and Arizona.

Below is a breakdown of the 175 units, by market region, as of today.

Fresh & Easy stores, by the numbers:

Southern California/San Diego
= 101 units

Northern California
 = 11 units

Central Valley, California/Bakersfield Metro
= 7 units

Central Valley, California/Fresno Metro
= 7 units

Southern Nevada/Metro Las Vegas
= 21 units

Metro Phoenix, Arizona
= 28 units

Total = 175 stores

Tesco has opened 21 Fresh & Easy grocery markets so far this year - 11 units in Northern California and 10 stores in Southern California.

In a December 30, 2010 piece - Seven Predictions For Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market For 2011 - we said Tesco would open 40-50 Fresh & Easy stores in calendar year 2011.

On April 19, Tesco said it would open 50 Fresh & Easy grocery markets this year, noting it is a few more than it originally planned on opening for 2011. [See - April 19, 201: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Posts Biggest One-Year Loss Yet - $307 Million Loss on Sales of $818 Million.]

April 19 was the first time Tesco or its Fresh & Easy chain mentioned how many stores it would open in 2011. It doesn't usually announce new store opening numbers at all.

Based on the 50 new stores' number, and having opened 21 units so far this year, that means Tesco plans to open an additional 29 Fresh & Easy fresh food and grocery markets this year.

Based on information from our sources, all, or nearly all, of the 29 or so new stores set to be opened in the remainder of 2011 will be in California.

No new Fresh  Easy stores have been opened so far this year in Nevada or Arizona.

No new stores in either region are planned for what's left of April.

Tesco has six less Fresh & Easy stores than it had six months ago in both Southern Nevada and metro Phoenix, Arizona, having closed six stores in each market region in November 2010. [See here for details.]

According to our sources, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market isn't planning on opening any new stores in Nevada or Arizona in May, either.

On April 19, Tesco reported a 2010/11 fiscal year loss of $307 million (on revenue of $818 million) for Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market. It's fiscal year ended February 26, 2011. There were 164 Fresh & Easy stores open at the end of Tesco's fiscal year. Tesco is currently in its 2011/12 fiscal year, which ends February 2012.

On October 5, 2010, when Tesco reported its mid-year financials, the retailer said it planned to have 400 Fresh & Easy stores open and operating by the end of its 2012/13 fiscal year because it needed the sales volume from that number of units open to break-even by February 2013, when that fiscal year ends. [See - October 5, 2010: Philip Clarke's Early Welcome to America: Tesco Logs $151 Million Half-Year Loss For Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.]

But last week, on April 19, Tesco CEO Philip Clarke said the retailer has revised the 400-store number down, saying it plans to break-even with Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market by February 2013, having 300 stores open and operating, 100 less units than it said would be needed seven months ago.

The downward revision from 400 to 300 stores didn't come as a surprise to us here at Fresh & Easy Buzz, since we said in the October 5, 2010 story linked above, when the 400-store metric was announced, that it was not a realistic number of new Fresh & Easy stores for Tesco to open between then and February 2013. We were correct.

For example, from November 2007 to today, a period of three-and-a-half-years, Tesco has opened 175 Fresh & Easy stores. That would mean it would have had to open 225 stores between now and February 2012, a period of less than two years, in order to hit 400 units. That's opening 40 more stores over a 22 month period than the 175 units it's opened since November 2007 (3.5 years.)

Even hitting 300 stores by February 2013, which means opening 125 new units over the next 22 months, is a pretty tall order, from simply a logistics standpoint, although Fresh & Easy can do it, based on its history.

If it opens the 50 stores this year it will end calendar 2011 with 204 units open, which means it will need to open 94 new stores from January 2012 to February 2013. A tall order - but achievable.

But at what cost in doing so? Tesco already has more Fresh & Easy stores in poor locations than it can afford to have. The 13 stores Tesco closed in November 2010 are a perfect example of this fact.

And, having so many stores out of the current 175 in poor locations is directly related to opening too many stores too rapidly, although that's only one of a handful of major mistakes Fresh  Easy Neighborhood Market has made when it comes to choosing store locations.

For example, the grocer has a number of stores in Arizona, Nevada and Southern California that are completed but have been sitting empty for up to two years. It also has store sites it hasn't even started construction on yet, and not just in Northern California, where it opened its first two stores on March 2. These are store sites primarily in metro Las Vegas, metro Phoenix and the Bakersfield, California region that it's possible Tesco will never even open stores at but is paying for.

This brings up another decision Tesco CEO Clarke will have to make, either at the end of this year or in early 2012. That decision: How many of the current under-performing Fresh & Easy stores should he close? If Tesco used the same performance criteria it used to close the 13 poor-performing stores in November 2010, it could close another 13 units and still have change leftover in terms of additional stores not doing much better than the 13.

Getting to 300 Fresh & Easy stores by February 2013 is achievable for Tesco. But it's far from the most important metric involved in breaking-even its Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, which Tesco CEO Philip Clarke says will happen by then, with 300 Fresh & Easy stores open and operating.

Behind the Buzz: Tesco Opens Three New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores in Northern California Tomorrow

News/Analysis/Commentary

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is set to open three new stores in Northern California tomorrow morning.

Once opened tomorrow, the three grocery markets in the San Francisco Bay Area cities of Hayward (Mission Boulevard and Rousseau Street), San Jose (Saratoga Avenue and Payne Avenue) and Napa (Imola Avenue and Jefferson Street), will give Fresh & Easy 11 units in Northern California and 175 stores total in California, Nevada (21 units) and Arizona (28 units.)

The new store at Saratoga Avenue and Payne Avenue is the second unit in San Jose for Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market. On March 2 the grocery chain opened one of its first two stores in Northern California, in San Jose's Willow Glen neighborhood. [See - March 2, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Opens First Two Stores in Northern California Today.]

The Hayward store is located in a middle-income neighborhood. The neighborhood doesn't have an abundance of grocery stores and supermarkets, which is something that could benefit Fresh & Easy at the location.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy first announced its plans to open a store at Mission Boulevard and Rousseau Street in Hayward in early 2008, over three year's ago.

Tesco has a second unit in Hayward, at A Street and Hesperian Boulevard, that it's been sitting on since at least January 2008. We expect the grocer to open the store this year or next. But, as of last week, no construction work was taking place at the location.

The neighborhood surrounding the Fresh & Easy store opening tomorrow at Saratoga Avenue and Payne Avenue in San Jose is also comprised primarily of middle-income residents.

We reported in this September 22, 2010 story - Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Planning A New, Third Store in San Jose, California that Tesco's Fresh & Easy planned to open the store at 1328 Saratoga Avenue (at Payne Avenue). The store wasn't one of the 37 units Fresh & Easy had previously announced it would open in Northern California. [See - November 5, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Queuing Up Three Additional Stores in Northern California For Early-to-Mid 2011 Openings.]

When Fresh & Easy announced on August 19, 2010 its plans to start opening stores in Northern California in "early 2011," the Saratoga and Payne store in San Jose wasn't on the grocer's initial list of eight stores. [See - August 19, 2010: Tesco Will Open its First Eight Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores in Northern California in 'Early 2011.']

On November 10, 2010 Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market announced it planned to open 12, rather than eight, stores in Northern California in "early 2011." The Saratoga and Payne unit was on the list of 12 stores. [See - November 12, 2010: Postponed But Not Abandoned: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Gearing Up For Northern California Launch.]

November 2010 was the first time Tesco's Fresh & Easy publicly said it had a store location at Saratoga and Payne, although we broke the news of its existence in our September 22 story.

Tesco has a third Fresh & Easy store location in San Jose, at Almaden Road and Curtner. As of last week, no construction work was taking place at the vacant building on the site. Tesco has been sitting on (and paying the monthly rent on) the Almaden Road location since at least January 2008.

The store in Napa, at Imola Avenue and Jefferson Street, not only will be Tesco's first Fresh & Easy market in the city. It will also be the first store the grocer has opened in the North Bay Area.

Six of the current eight Fresh & Easy stores in Northern California are in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Four of the stores (Walnut Creek, Concord, Danville and Pleasanton) are in the Easy Bay Area. One store, the unit in San Jose's Willow Glen neighborhood, is in the South Bay Area. The remaining store (of the six) is in Pacifica, which is located on the coastal peninsula near San Francisco.

The remaining two stores are in Vacaville, which is between Sacramento and the Bay Area, and Modesto, which is in the Northern Central Valley.

The opening of the Fresh & Easy store in Napa should be of particular interest to readers of Fresh & Easy Buzz because of a story we published about the location on September 14, 2010. The story:  Eight Plus One: Napa Unit Added to Eight Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Opening in Northern CA in Early 2011.

In the story, in addition to reporting before Tesco's Fresh & Easy announced its plans to do so that the grocery chain would open the Napa store early this year, we offered Tesco a suggestion, based on our knowledge, experience and analysis of the market and the specific Napa location, on how it could create a better opportunity for success with the store.

That suggestion included using a portion of an extra 3,500 square-feet available at the store to put in an in-store cafe, where the grocer could offer coffee and pastries, along with other baked goods, drinks and related items. The cafe would have a bar and some tables as well, so it would serve as a way to draw shoppers into the store as well as to keep them in the store longer, which research and practical experience shows results in the spending of more money per-store-trip.

The Napa store, however, is identical to virtually all the other 171 Fresh & Easy markets. Instead of using all or a portion of the extra 3,500 square-feet for a cafe, the space is currently being offered for lease.

You'll see in our September 14, 2010 story - Eight Plus One: Napa Unit Added to Eight Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Opening in Northern CA in Early 2011 -  we presented a conceptual sketch as to how Tesco's Fresh & Easy could use the entire 3,500 square-feet, localizing and customizing the store to the neighborhood and city of Napa. It would have been an interesting and smart thing for Tesco to do as a test, in our analysis.

The idea and concept is all the more interesting because one week ago, on April 19, Tesco CEO Philip Clark, who took over in March, said the company plans to open the Fresh & Easy stores at 7 a.m., an hour earlier than most of the stores now open (a few units open later than 8 a.m.), and to serve coffee and pastries at all the stores in the early morning hours. You know - just like every convenience store, coffee shop/cafe (many featuring drive-through windows), fast food joint (more drive-through options) gas station, supermarket, doughnut shop, bakery and restaurant does in California, Nevada and Arizona.

Selling a cup of coffee and pastry to takeout in the stores isn't going to do much of anything to improve Fresh & Easy's sales, profits or image.

It's fine we suppose. Coffee is available nearly everywhere else, after all. (We forgot to include that's it's also available at most workplaces, in vending machines and in all those food trucks driving around in the early morning, in the list above. Some of us even make coffee at home in the morning.) But as a strategy and merchandising addition to Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, it's a near-empty and not very substantial cup of Joe, in our analysis. A shot of decaf, at best.

We aren't taking a cheap shot at Clarke about the plans to start selling coffee and pastries at Fresh & Easy. Instead, we're just looking at it in a serious, analytical way.

After all, he's the new boss at Tesco and had nothing to do with Fresh & Easy in his previous executive positions at the retailer, which were director of Europe and Asia retail operations and chief of information technology.

When Clarke was touring Fresh & Easy stores in February of this year, before he became CEO the first week of March, he was surprised shoppers couldn't grab a cup of coffee in the stores. A few units do offer it, like one he visited in Long Beach, California. [See - February 23, 2011: Incoming Tesco CEO Philip Clarke Visits America - And Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.]

He asked Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market CEO Tim Mason (and others at Fresh & Easy), who became Tesco deputy CEO when Clarke became CEO, about the lack of being able to grab a cup of Joe in the stores more than once. And soon, coffee and pastries will be for sale in all the Fresh & Easy stores, as the Tesco CEO announced on April 19.

It's a nice thing, having coffee and pastries available in the morning. But Clarke will have to make some much bigger additions and changes in strategy and practice if he wants to break-even with Fresh & Easy by 2013, as he says will be the case. [See - April 19, 2011: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Posts Biggest One-Year Loss Yet - $307 Million Loss on Sales of $818 Million.]

But breaking-even is only job one. As the CEO of Tesco Clarke must ask himself another question at the very same time. That question: Then what? In other words, if Fresh & Easy does come close to or break-even by 2010, what's the strategy - for profitability, growth, ect. - going forward? That strategy needs to be developed now.

What might be helpful, and its something we first suggested over three years ago Tesco try at Fresh & Easy, is to include some small in-store cafes/seating areas in selected stores and see how they perform. Not long after we first offered the suggestion, Fresh & Easy CEO Tim Mason mentioned in an interview with a British newspaper that putting small cafes with sit-down areas in some of the stores was something he was considering doing. It never happened though.

Had Tesco tested the small in-store cafe concept even two years ago, say in about 6-12 Fresh & Easy stores, it would know by now if it was helping and could be using it as a way to help draw customers, keep them in the stores longer, build stronger shopper loyalty, develop a little needed in-store excitement, and create a better sense-of-place in the Fresh & Easy stores, the lack of which is a major reason they don't draw an adequate number of new and repeat primary and secondary shoppers, in our research and analysis.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Opens Eighth Northern California Store Today in Pleasanton

Tesco's Fresh & Easy in Northern California - 2011

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market opened its eighth Northern California store today, in the East San Francisco Bay Area city of Pleasanton, which among other things is where Safeway Stores, Inc., Northern California's leading supermarket chain, has its corporate headquarters.

The Pleasanton Fresh & Easy grocery market is in the Rose Pavilion Shopping Center on Santa Rita Road and Rosewood Drive.

Until last year the shopping center was without a grocery store anchor. There are now two - a 99 Ranch Market supermarket that opened in the center last year and the Fresh & Easy store, which opened this morning at 10 a.m..

We reported in an April 2009 story - April 19, 2009: 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 - that Fresh & Easy had signed a lease for the Pleasanton location. However, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market didn't publicly announce its plans to open a store at the location until last summer, when it announced it would open 11 stores in early 2011 in Northern California.

We first identified Pleasanton as a city where Tesco's Fresh & Easy would open a store in this January 24, 2008 story:  Fresh & Easy Locking-Up Leases For Northern California Invasion.

Tim Mason, the CEO of United Kingdom-based Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, which is headquartered in the Southern California city of El Segundo, attended the Pleasanton store opening today. Mason, who's based in Southern California, is also Tesco's deputy CEO, a position in which he reports to the global retailer's CEO, Philip Clarke, as his deputy.

Mason wasn't the only grocer wearing a suit and tie at the Pleasanton store opening today. A Fresh & Easy Buzz correspondent spotted two Safeway corporate employees at the store today. One even had a Safeway Stores, Inc. plastic name card attached to his belt. Safeway's corporate headquarters office complex is just a short drive from the Fresh & Easy market in the Rose Pavilion Shopping Center.

Additionally, one of Safeway's two supermarkets in Pleasanton isn't far from the Fresh & Easy store either. Safeway is currently constructing a brand new flagship supermarket in Pleasanton. [See - July 25, 2010: Safeway to Start Construction on New Pleasanton, California Flagship Store Soon; Thanksgiving 2011 Target Opening.

In addition to the 99 Ranch Market store in the shopping center and the Safeway supermarket not far away, there's also a Trader Joe's store just down the street from the new Fresh & Easy market at Santa Rita Road and Rosewood Drive.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is set to open three more stores in Northern California this month, on April 27. Those stores are at the following locations in the following cities: Hayward (Mission Blvd. & Rousseau St.), Napa (Imola Ave. & Jefferson St.) and San Jose, at Saratoga and Payne. All three cities are in the San Francico Bay Area.

Additionally, the Tesco-owned fresh food and grocery chain, which now operates 173 stores in California (124 units), southern Nevada (21 units) and metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona (28 units), will soon announce the opening dates of at least four more fresh food and grocery markets in Northern California. Those stores are in San Francisco (at 32nd Street and Clement; and 5800 Third Street at Carroll Avenue), Antioch and Fairfield, as we've reported here and here.

Fresh & Easy has opened 18 stores so far this year - 10 units in Southern California and eight stores in the north.

The grocer hasn't opened any new stores in Nevada or Arizona so far this year, and has no openings planned for April in either state. In November 2010 Fresh & Easy closed six underperforming stores in metro Las Vegas, Nevada and six similar units in metro Phoenix, Arizona.

Below are the locations (and dates opened) of the eight stores Fresh & Easy has opened in Northern California so far this year:

March 2nd, 2011

>Bird Ave. & Minnesota Ave., San Jose, California

>Diablo Blvd. & Hwy 680, Danville, California

March 9th, 2011

>Cabrillo Hwy. & Linda Mar Blvd., Pacifica, California

March 16th, 2011

>Clayton Rd. & Ygnacio Valley Rd., Concord, California

>Elmira Rd. & Nut Tree Rd., Vacaville, California

March 23rd, 2011

>Oakdale Rd. & Lancey Dr., Modesto, California

>Ygnacio Valley Rd. & San Carlos Rd., Walnut Creek, California

April 13th, 2011

>Rosewood Dr. & Santa Rita Rd., Pleasanton, California

Click on the following links - Fresh and Easy Northern California, Fresh and Easy San Francisco Bay Area, Northern CA Launch, Northern California Market Region, Tesco's Fresh and Easy in Norcal 2011 - to read stories about the stores opened thus far, along with our extensive coverage of Tesco's Fresh & Easy in Northern California, its competitors, and the overall market.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Related Stories

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

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.