Two Motor Home Nomads, Laurie & Odel, Visit and Review A Southern California Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store In Yucaipa

On April Fool's Day, 2003, a couple named Laurie and Odel, along with their cat Luna, hooked their Jeep (which they've named Jules) to the back of their motor home (named Scoopy) and took off to explore North America.

According to the Blog, "Semi-True Tales Of Our Life On The Road," that the couple publishes to chronicle their travels, "Odel is the primary driver and vehicle master. Laurie is navigator and correspondent (the Blogger). And Luna is their feline companion and queen of all she surveys." "Come enjoy the ride with us", is their invitation to readers of the Blog.

Laurie and Odel, traveling North America by motor home now for five years, are currently staying at the Mission RV Park in Redlands, (Southern) California, visiting the southern portion of the Golden State until January 20, according to their latest Blog entry.

The Mission RV Park is near the Southern California city of Loma Linda, where Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market soon will open a new combination grocery and fresh foods Fresh & Easy market just a few blocks from the RV Park.

Laurie, who as she says is the couple's correspondent, says their curiosity was peaked about what a Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is when they saw the "Coming Soon" sign for the future store in Loma Linda near the RV Park where the freeway travelers are currently staying.

As a result, she says on December 6 they visited a Fresh & Easy market in nearby Yucaipa, which they had first spotted while going on a wet Thanksgiving Day hike nearby.

North American traveler and Blogger Laurie offers a review of the Yucaipa Fresh & Easy market in a recent post in the couple's Blog...she also offers some comments from husband Odel, the vehicle master who went shopping at the store with her.

In addition to being a freeway diva and Blogger, Laurie appears to be an accomplished "foodie," offering some tasty recipes on her Blog.

In her post about the Fresh & Easy store shopping trip her food knowledge also comes out as she describes how she approaches shopping. She's a good photographer as well, as the Fresh & Easy Yucaipa store collage picture she took (above), along with other photographs in the Blog, demonstrate.

Read what the co-road warrior and correspondent-in-chief half, Laurie, of the North American motor home traveling couple has to say about their first time visit to the Fresh & Easy market in Yucaipa, California here.

Vox Populi!: The People Speak Out on Tesco's Fresh & Easy Grocery Stores on the 'Fast Foods Maven's' Blog: We Analyze the Data and Offer Results

Nancy Luna, a business reporter for the Orange County Register in Orange County, California, who also writes a food-oriented blog in the paper called the Fast Food Maven, wrote a blog post yesterday about Fresh & Easy's announcement that the grocer will now accept American Express Cards (they didn't before for some reason) in addition to the other credit cards it takes in its 59 stores in Southern California, Arizona and Nevada. [Note to Raphael: The other credit cards the retailer takes are Visa, MasterCard and Discover Card, according to the manager at the Anaheim, California Fresh & Easy store.]

At the end of her blog post yesterday, Luna asked the newspaper's readers a question: 'What would you like Tesco (Fresh & Easy) to do next to win your shopping dollars' She also opened the comments box to their opinions of the stores by virtue of the question.

As of this evening, there are ten total responses (and comments) to Ms Luna's reader question. Bu, as you will see below, we're only using seven of them because one is a response from blogger Luna, another respondent posted twice, and a third comment is just informational.

Below are the (screen) names of the reader's who have responded thus far. Next to the names we score their comments and opinions as either positive, negative or neutral, regarding Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market stores where they have shopped. Remember, only 7 opinions are valid, which is why we are using that number. Here we go:

The People's Opinions::

1. A V Rabinowitz: Positive, Very pleased about F&E now taking Am-Ex. No other store comments though.
2. Go Ducks: Neutral, leaning towards negative. Says F& E needs to do a better job on nutrition items on the prepared foods items. Wants more low-fat and healthy items. Says F&E can "do a better job."
3. Troy: Negative; No love for F&E from Troy
4. Nancy Luna: Not Scored; She's the blog writer commenting on a comment.
5. Mike: Positive; especially on the prices.
6. Kimberly: Positive; likes the samples, wide aisles, store employees, the free $5 coupons for purchases of $20.00 or more (there goes the gross margin).
7. Dennis Roberts: Positive; Also likes the $5 coupons (guess so, that's 25% off a $20 order), likes the store brand products, wonders why the store doesn't have more business.
8. Raphael: Not Scored; just wants to know if Fresh & Easy takes credit cards other than Am-Ex. Since nobody answered him on the blog: Yes they do Raphael. See our first paragraph above.
9. Troy (second post): Negative Says he works at Disneyland. Was not pleased with the sample hostess last time he was in F&E. (We are only counting Troy once, by the way.)
10. Dawn: Negative: Doesn't sound like she will be going back to Fresh & Easy.

The Raw Numbers (as of March 19):

Total Comments: 10 in total but 7 usable comments:

We are only counting Troy once. His opinion is the same in both posts. We aren't counting Nancy Luna as she is the blog writer. We are not counting Raphael as he was just asking about credit cards and has no opinion. Thus there are 7 actual comments.

Consumer Opinion Ratings of Fresh & Easy:

1. Positive Comments: 3
2. Negative Comments: 3
3. Neutral comments: 1
4. Not Scored: 2
5. Duplicate Comment: 1 (Troy)

Based on our scoring system, it's a dead heat thus far between the Positive and Negative opinions of the Fast Food Maven blog's readers. There is one neutral comment. We scored it neutral leaning towards negative. However, it goes in the neutral column as it fits that category more than it does negative in our analysis.

Based on the universe of seven opinions (a small but real universe none the less) Tesco's Fresh & Easy gets about a 45% approval rating and a 45% disapproval rating. Further, since Go Ducks is leaning towards negative (we made a fair judgement call) that brings down the 45% F&E approval rating a bit (also in all fairness). But we will call that qualitative. The 45-45 still stands.

Since blog posts have a long life, these stats could change either way. Like professional polls, online opinions are merely a snapshot of a particular point in time. Remember, however, these seven people are consumers. They also have family, friends co-workers and the like, who they will tell what they think of Fresh & Easy based on their opinions stated here. Also remember: word of mouth marketing is perhaps the most powerful--in both positive and negative ways. [Read the blog post and the comments of "the people" here.]

In terms of the positives, we can't help but commenting that two of the three sited the free $5 off coupons on grocery orders of $20 or more as a key reason for "liking" Fresh & Easy. Our understanding is that these coupons (Tesco calls them vouchers in the UK) are given to shoppers in the stores and sometimes placed in the Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market mass-mailed advertising circular.

We think the latter is probably a good idea. The former has some merit in terms of serving as a reinforcement or loyalty-type marketing strategy--but its utility is minimal in our experience and opinion. The ad circular-placed $5 off coupons can at least serve to generate new customer trail, which Fresh & Easy needs to do.

Five dollars off a $20 grocery purchase is a good deal for shoppers. If their order is only $20, that's over 25% off the grocery order. Of course, Tesco hopes the order will be $50, so that its only a 10% discount. Even if the average order is say $30 though, that's still a 15% discount.

A $5 coupon on a minimum $20 order isn't something the grocer--any grocer--can sustain for too long though, unless it's a non-profit. Even if Tesco is obtaining a 40% overall gross-margin (which we doubt) in its Fresh & Easy stores, the use of lots of the $5-off on minimum $20 order coupons are a major gross margin suppressor. However, right now the coupons can be chalked up to a marketing expense (and maybe budget line item); a way to drive shoppers to the stores and to keep those who have shopped the stores coming back...for a while.

Of course, the proof will be in the pudding--which is the case for all price promotions with all retailers--when Tesco stops distributing the coupons. In other words, what percentage of customers are just shopping the stores for the significant coupon discount? That's the 64 thousand dollar question. And, it's too early to know that yet.

Vox Populi!: The People Speak: California Wiz Kids' Likes Fresh & Easy in Arcadia, California

The California Wiz Kids (CWK) is a family-owned and operated preschool and kindergarten in West Los Angeles, California. The goal of CWK is to send its young students on to their next educational challenges with the knowledge and confidence gained by preparation and practice, tempered with encouragement and kindness.

California Whiz Kids' says everyone, especially parents, are on the hunt for fresh, safe, nutritional foods for their families.

The Chief Whiz Kid says she thinks she has found these types of foods--and more--at the Fresh & Easy grocery store where she's been shopping at in Arcadia, California. And, she has her mother to thank, as that's who she says introduced her to the store.

Read what the Whiz Kid-In-Chief thinks about that store. Her opinions, review and evaluations are here.

Vox Populi: The People Speak: A Rose (By Any Other Name) Gives Props to A Fresh & Easy Store

Rose, a single, professional woman who lives in Phoenix, Arizona and works as a project administrator in the construction industry, looks to us like the kind of customer--and potential Fresh & Easy booster--Tesco should nurture.

Not only is Rose, who also writes a blog called A Rose By Any Other Name, a professional woman in an industry that's dominated by men, she also returned to college as an adult to complete her BA degree, which she finished in 2005. Now she is completing her Masters Degree, in addition to working full-time. [Read more about Rose here.]

We don't know Rose personally. But we can tell by her bio on the blog she is a busy, time-pressed woman. Rose also is a great demographic for a food retailer--well-educated, professional, literate (writes her own blog), a homeowner (she says she bought a new home in 2007) and well-traveled; she's lived all over the U.S. in her lifetime.

Rose also likes the Fresh & Easy store she recently visited for the first time last night in the Phoenix, Arizona area where she lives.

Rose says overall she was impressed with what she saw and that is reminded her of "the old neighborhood markets that I went to as a kid."

We've wrote enough though...read what Rose writes about her shopping trip to the Fresh & Easy store in the Phoenix area last night here.

Vox Populi: The People Speak on a Fresh & Easy Store

Since November, 2007 when the store opened, 33 people (to date) have reviewed the Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market store on Eagle Rock Blvd. in the city of Los Angeles, California on the review website Yelp.

The 33 reviews range from very positive, to rather negative, and a few in between. They also range from long treatises, to reviews consisting of short and pithy sentences. (The store is located at 4211 Eagle Rock Blvd., Los Angeles, California, 90065.)

Based on our sources and on reader comments, the Eagle Rock store has been on of the busiest and most popular Fresh & Easy grocery markets to date. There currently are 33 Fresh & Easy grocery markets in Southern California, Arizona and Nevada.

Read the Yelp.com store reviews here.