The Winner of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's Reusable Bag Design Contest Is...

Josephine Close with her $5,000 Fresh & Easy Gift Card and first place-winning reusable bag design. [Photo credit: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.]

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market announced today that Los Angeles resident Josephine Close is the winner of the El Segundo, (Southern) California-based fresh food and grocery chain's reusable grocery bag design contest.

Ms. Close's reusable bag (pictured below), which was one of the three-out-of-eight finalists in the contest we featured in a June 17, 2010 story - Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Picks Eight Finalists in its Reusable Bag Design Contest; Website Voting Through June 30 - was chosen as the grand prize winner by members of Fresh & Easy's 'Friends of Fresh & Easy' e-mail marketing program, according to the grocer's announcement today.

"I was absolutely thrilled when I found out that I won the bag design contest and want to thank Fresh & Easy's customers for voting for my design," Josephine Close says in the announcement. "I wanted to create a piece of art versus another bag with a lot of branding. Instead of drawing fruits and vegetables, I used their naturally-occurring colors to represent them in what I thought was a very abstract and unique way."

You can read Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's announcement about the winner here.

Bag design maven Josephine Close will have plenty of free groceries to cart home in her winning reusable shopping bag, since her prize is a gift card from Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market worth $5,000.

The winning bag design will be featured on a bag that will be offered for sale in all of the Fresh & Easy stores by the end of this year, allowing Josephine Close to see her design offered for sale in over 159 grocery markets in California, Nevada and Arizona, in the form of a Fresh & Easy reusable shopping bag.

A reusable shopping bag design star just might be born. Could there be a reality show in the future: "The Next Reusable Shopping Bag Design Star," perhaps?

Fresh & Easy's Design-A-Bag contest had more than 1,300 submissions, which were made through its website, according to the grocer. As we reported in our June story, eight bag designs - and designers - were then named as finalists in the contest. Fresh & Easy says in its announcement today that nearly 24,000 votes were cast by the 'Friends of Fresh & Easy' members to choose the first place winner - Josephine Close.

With the California State Senate set to likely approve a bill next month - which the Governor has said he will sign into law - banning single-use plastic carrier bags from being used to pack groceries at grocery and drug stores, along with other format stores over 10,000 square-feet that have a pharmacy, followed by convenience stores 18 months later - the timing of Fresh & Easy's bag design contest winning announcement is good.

Further, If Fresh & Easy can get Ms. Close's bag design out into the California stores very soon after the Governor signs the bag ban bill, which could be as early as September, into law, assuming it passes of course, even the better to gain some favorable "green grocer" publicity, if handled well from a media relations standpoint. [Read: July 20, 2010: California's First-in-the-Nation Plastic Carrier Bag Ban Legislation Looks to Be On its Way to Victory]

Fresh & Easy Buzz likes Ms. Close's bag design - it's creative and different than the usual designs chosen by professional designers for reusable shopping bags.

In fact, the paisley design evokes a bit of a 1960's look, in our opinion. And that's a look that surely reflects at least California's history, since the state was the epicenter of the counter-cultural, anti-Vietnam War, mod and related movements collectively known as "the 1960's." Remember how hot paisley was in the 1960's and 1970's old-timers?

The 1960's is also when the "green" or environmental movement took off, with California as it's epicenter. Half a century later it's California that still leads - although the state needs to kick it up a notch as others are gaining on it fast - in the modern day "green" movement, including preparing to pass the first single-use plastic carrier bag ban in the nation.

Therefore, Josephine Close's winning reusable shopping bag design for a grocery chain based in California - El Segundo in the Southland - with its 1960's-evoking paisley motif - is sort of a come full-circle experience, in that it invokes the Golden State's "green" roots while ushering in a new era in which California is posed to lead the nation in the use of reusable bags if and when the current single-use plastic carrier bag ban legislation is passed and becomes law.

Related Stories:

June 17, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Picks Eight Finalists in its Reusable Bag Design Contest; Website Voting Through June 30

April 19, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Joins Kroger Co. in Holding Earth Month-Earth Day Reusable Bag Design Contest

July 20, 2010: California's First-in-the-Nation Plastic Carrier Bag Ban Legislation Looks to Be On its Way to Victory

June 19, 2010: 'Paper or Plastic' Likeley to Be Replaced By 'Reusable or Paper' (For a Fee) in California Grocery Stores

June 18, 2010: Kroger's 2010 Reusable Grocery Bag Contest Has Ended; Winners to be Named in July

[Readers: Click here for a complete selection of posts on the reusable shopping bag topic and issue from Fresh & Easy Buzz.]

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Picks Eight Finalists in its Reusable Bag Design Contest; Website Voting Through June 30

On April 19, 2010, three days before Earth Day, Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market launched a reusable grocery shopping bag design contest open to members of the public in California, southern Nevada and Arizona, where the grocer's 159 fresh food and grocery markets are located.

Read our story here: April 19, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Joins Kroger Co. in Holding Earth Month-Earth Day Reusable Bag Design Contest.

There were 1,300 design submissions made to Fresh & Easy for its Design-A-Bag contest, which has now ended.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has selected eight finalists out of those 1,300 submissions, and is accepting votes from the public on the eight reuseable bag designs on a special page on its website here. The voting ends on June 30, 2010. Interestingly, all eight of the finalists are from sunny and creative Southern California. None are from Nevada or Arizona, which also has its fair share of creative folks.

View all eight reusable bag design contest finalists here.

After viewing the designs, feel free to share with your fellow Fresh & Easy Buzz readers which one (or two) of the eight reusable bag creations is your favorite. Just click the post a comment link at the end of this post.

Note on the bag designs pictured: The reusable bag design pictured above is by Josephine Close, Los Angeles, California. The design pictured in the middle of the post is by Tiffany Birch, Los Angeles. The reusable bag at the very top of this post is by Gina Disney, Temecula, California. They are three of the eight finalists in the Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Design-A-Bag competition. All three, along with the other five finalists, describe the "design inspiration" for their respective bags here.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Joins Kroger Co. in Holding Earth Month-Earth Day Reusable Bag Design Contest

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

The old saying above came to mind earlier today when we discovered Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is launching a Design-A-Bag contest, beginning on April 19, and running until May 31.

The Design-A-Bag contest, which is timed to tie-in with Earth Month (April) and Earth Day(April 22), works this way: Shoppers design a reusable grocery shopping bag for Fresh & Easy as explained here. The chief criteria is the designer's own creativity. Participants then submit their reusable bag design to Tesco's Fresh & Easy by May 31, 2010.

Members of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's "Friends of Fresh & Easy" e-mail group will vote on the finalists, which will be chosen by a panel of judges that's been selected by Fresh & Easy. There will be up to ten finalists, according to Fresh & Easy. The one receiving the most votes from the "Friends of Fresh & Easy" will bag the first place title.

The winning reusable bag will be offered for sale in all the Fresh & Easy stores.

Lastly (but far from least), the winning reusable bag designer will receive free groceries from Fresh & Easy for a year, in the form of $5,000 worth of the grocer's gift cards. The semi-finalists, those chosen by the judging panel but not named the winner by the "Friends of Fresh & Easy" folks, will each get a $100 Fresh & Easy neighborhood Market gift card.

[The full details of Fresh & Easy's bag design contest are here. Sign-up information is here.]

Now for the "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery" part.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market competitor Kroger Co. - which operates the Ralphs and Food 4 Less chains in Southern and Central California; Fry's in Arizona; and Smith's Food & Drug in Nevada (the three states where Tesco has its Fresh & Easy stores) - has been conducting a shopper 'Design a Reusable Bag' contest for the last three years.

In fact, we wrote about Kroger Co.'s reusable bag design contest last year in Fresh & Easy Buzz. [Story link - May 1, 2010: Competitor News: Kroger Co. Launches Chainwide 'Design Your Own Bag' Contest Promotion; Invites Shoppers to Be 'Part of the Solution']

Kroger's 2010 contest began on April 12, and runs until May 21, at the chains listed above, along with all of its other U.S. banners

The retailer provides this section and complete template and tools on its website for consumers to use in designing their reusable shopping bags.

The winning reusable bag designer gets a $1,000 gift card. In addition, Kroger will sell the winning bag in its stores.

Along with the first place prize, Kroger Co. awards the top four bag design contest finalists a $250 Kroger gift card. Additionally, the five runners-up will receive a $100 Kroger gift card.

All contest participants receive a free electronic coupon for 99 cents, which they can use at any Kroger-owned store to obtain a free reusable shopping bag.

[Full information on how to participate in Kroger's reusable bag design contest is here.]

Tesco's Fresh & Easy has upped the first-place prize money on Kroger however - $5,000 from Fresh & Easy, compared to $1,000 offered by Kroger Co.

Fresh & Easy Buzz is a proponent of increased consumer usage of reusable shopping bags as a way to decrease the use of single-use plastic and paper grocery bags at retail.

Contests like Kroger's - and now Fresh & Easy's - serve to create greater awareness of the issue of single-use bags and their environmental negatives, and hopefully lead to higher shopper usage of reusable bags.

And when it comes to programs by grocers designed to reduce their respective carbon footprints and improve the environment, imitation is not only the sincerest form of flattery, it also can have power in numbers.

Pictured above is the first-place winning design in Kroger's 2009 bag design contest. The bag was designed by Sherri N of Columbus, Ohio. Click here to view the first place bag, along with the four finalists and five runners-up in last year's contest

[Readers: Click here for a complete selection of posts on the reusable shopping bag topic and issue from Fresh & Easy Buzz.]

Earth Day 2008: Whole Foods Market, Inc. Becomes the First Major U.S. Food and Grocery Retailer to Stop Using Single-Use Plastic Carrier Bags Tomorrow

Tomorrow is G (green)-Day for supernatural grocery retailer Whole Foods Market, Inc.

Beginning first thing tomorrow morning (Earth Day 2008) when the doors open at the retailer's stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, Whole Foods will no longer be offering customers the option of single-use plastic carrier bags for their grocery purchases.

Instead of the typical "reusable, paper or plastic" (bag) question asked each shopper at the checkout stand in a Whole Foods' store, tomorrow that refrain will be shortened to just "reusable or paper," with a major emphasis on the "reusable" option.

Beginning tomorrow, Whole Foods Market, Inc. becomes the only major food and grocery retailing chain in the United States and likely the world to voluntarily stop offering the thin, plastic single-use carrier bags to customers in its stores.

In order to celebrate the event as well as Earth Day 2008, the supernatural grocer is holding regional promotions throughout the USA, Canada and at it's store in the UK tomorrow and the rest of the month, since Whole Foods has proclaimed April as "Earth Month" in honor of Earth Day.

For example, in many regions of the U.S., Whole Foods will donate 10 cents for every single reusable shopping bag customers bring into the store tomorrow to local environmental organizations.

In Atlanta, Georgia for example, the Whole Foods' stores in that region will donate 10 cents for every reusable shopping bag customers bring in to bag their own groceries with to Atlanta Beautiful, a non-profit organization that creates and implements public education and community improvement programs designed to make the Atlanta Metropolitan region cleaner and greener, according to the group.

All Whole Foods stores currently give shoppers 10 cents for every reusable shopping bag they bring in to have their grocery orders bagged in. That program will continue with the elimination of single-use plastic carrier bags in all of the grocer's stores starting tomorrow morning. Whole Foods will still offer shoppers free paper grocery sacks made out of 100% recyclable paper.

The supernatural grocer's store team members will be getting into the Earth Day spirit in a literally "green" way tomorrow. Every store-level Whole Foods worker in the U.S will participate in what the grocery chain is calling a "Green Out" tomorrow by wearing green attire from head to toe all day on Earth Day in the stores.

The jolly "green" store team members will be doing lots of environmental educating in the stores tomorrow, including making a big push for shoppers to adopt a reusable shopping bag lifestyle and habit.

Whole Foods is selling numerous reusable bags in its stores, as well as giving a certain number of the bags away for free in its stores tomorrow. The grocer sells a variety of canvas reusable shopping bags--including those made from organic and Free Trade cotton as well as conventionally-grown material--in a variety of price ranges.

The grocer also recently introduced its "A Better Bag," which is made from recycled (80%)plastic bottles and sells for 99 cents each.

Another fun and interesting regional event to celebrate the end of the plastic carrier bag era at Whole Foods is being conducted tomorrow at one of its stores in Raleigh, North Carolina. Store team members there will be holding an "eco-fashion show" from 6-8pm in the store, with all of the outfits made from single-use plastic carrier bags. No word if Heidi Klum will be in attendance.

In addition to celebrating the elimination of plastic grocery bags in the stores and the promotion of reusable ones, all Whole Foods' stores also are offering a myriad of Earth Day "green" events and promotions tomorrow and throughout the month. These include celebrations and in-store tastings of organic and sustainable foods, promotions featuring locally-grown food and grocery products with appearances by local farmers and food purveyors in-store, natural and organic body care promotions and giveaways and more.

The stores across the U.S., Canada and the UK also are conducting numerous tie-in promotions with local non-profit groups which are designed to raise money for environmental activities, ranging from local litter clean up projects, "green" education programs for children, sustainable urban gardening projects, and other similar activities.

Whole Foods also is working on finding alternatives to the use of the plastic bags it currently is using in its produce, bakery, seafood and bulk foods' departments, we've learned.

Among those alternatives the food retailer is looking at include a new-generation bag that's made completely from natural ingredients such as cornstarch. Any such bag must meet USDA standards for food grade quality however, which makes finding alternatives easier said than done at present.

Paper bags made out of 100% post-consumer recycled materials might be a good solution for the bakery and bulk foods' departments however, since paper bags have been used throughout history to contain fresh baked goods and bulk foods' products.

Whole Foods Market, Inc. is a trend-setter in food and grocery retailing, especially in the U.S. It was the first large chain to push organic food and grocery products in a major way, although independents were doing so long before Whole Foods was even founded. It's also the largest chain focusing on "locally-grown" foods and grocery products in the U.S., among other innovations.

Major supermarket chains and mass merchandisers like Kroger Co., SuperValu, Inc., Safeway Stores, Inc. Wal-Mart, Target and others pay very close attention to what Whole Foods does in terms of corporate policies (especially environmental) and in it's merchandising. Beginning tomorrow, these chains and most others will be watching the effects Whole Foods' elimination of single-use plastic carrier bags from all its stores has on the retailer.

In our analysis, all the effects will be positive ones we believe. We doubt any customers will stop shopping Whole Foods' stores because it will no longer offer plastic grocery bags as an option. In fact, we believe the grocer has already benefited from all the pre-Earth Day plastic bag-ban publicity it's received, which likely has increased the customer count in the already booming stores.

We don't believe however that any major supermarket and mass merchandiser chains like those we mentioned above will stop offering the thin, single-use plastic bags in their stores anytime soon. The consumer focus of the retailers is more "mass" than Whole Foods and they still believe eliminating plastic bags would cause them a loss of customers--and business.

We think some small to medium-size regional chains and local multi and single-store independents in the U.S. could follow Whole Foods' lead and stop offering the plastic grocery bags in their stores.

However, for the near to medium-term we think Whole Foods will remain the only major U.S. chain for now that doesn't offer single-use plastic carrier bags in all of its stores, with the exception of course of those food and grocery retailers who are in states or cities where single-use plastic carrier bag-bans have either been passed or soon will be passed. And, of course, in those instances the bag-ban laws are uniform for all grocery retailers. Therefore, there isn't a real or perceived competitive advantage one way or the other.

Earth Day 2008: Massachusetts'-Based Stop & Shop Supermarket Chain and General Mills Launch Free Reusable Shopping Bag Cross-Promotion For Earth Day

Massachusetts-based Stop & Shop Supermarket Co., which is a division of Dutch retailer Royal Ahold, NV, and food industry manufacturer and marketer General Mills, Inc. today announced an innovative Earth Day-themed reuseable shopping bag cross-promotional campaign in all of the grocery retailer's 389 stores.

Starting today and running through Thursday, April 24, Stop & Shop customers who purchase at least $15 worth of General Mills' brand products in a single store visit such as Pillsbury baked goods, Green Giant frozen vegetables (that jolly 'Green' Giant), General Mills' ready-to-eat cereals, Yoplait Yogurt, Haagen-Dazs ice cream, Betty Crocker branded products, Cascadian Farm and Muir Glen brand natural and organic products, and many other Big G. brands, will receive five free reusable shopping bags.

Stop & Shop also is launching a second initiative beginning on May 9 as part of what it is calling its "Think Green" green retailing campaign.

For each single-use plastic carrier bag, paper grocery sack or reusable shopping bag a customer brings into the store, the food retailer will deduct 5 cents for each bag used to bag their grocery order from the shoppers total purchase cost. For example, if a shopper brings in ten bags and all ten are used to bag their grocery order, Stop & Shop will deduct 50 cents from the total.

Numerous U.S. grocery chains are already doing this; giving shoppers a 5 cent (and in a few cases a 10 cent) per brought-in grocery bag credit off their total grocery order amount. Some chains are even giving customers 5 cents off per bag for each paper grocery bag they bring in beyond the number used to packaged their purchases.

For example, if a shopper brings in 20 paper grocery sacks but only five are needed to bag their purchases, the retailer will keep the remaining 15 and give the customer a total of $1.00 off their total grocery order purchase amount at the register.

Stop & Shop and General Mills have a number of point-of-purchase product displays, featuring GM products, promoting the four-day buy $15 worth of General Mills' brand products and get five free reusable shopping bags from Stop & Shop campaign.

Earth Day 2008: Arizona-Based Basha's Grocery Chain Launches the 'Ultimate Green Bag' Reusable Shopping Bag Giveaway and Year-Long Promotion

Arizona-based Basha's supermarkets and one of its suppliers, Shamrock Farms dairy, have teamed-up to offer Basha's customers what the grocery chain says is "a new kind of reusable shopping bag" for Earth Day 2008.

"We're calling it the 'Ultimate Green Bag' because it's good for the environment and good for your wallet," Johnny Basha, the vice chairman of the family-owned, multi-format chain told Fresh & Easy Buzz.

The Basha's-Shamrock Farms dairy reusable bag promotion kicks-off tomorrow on Earth Day in all of the grocer's Arizona supermarkets and will run for the rest of this year.

Store customers can get a free (one per-person), reusable 'Ultimate Green Bag' by bringing in and exchanging five or more single-use plastic carrier bags for the reusable bag. Bashas' will recycle all of the plastic grocery bags brought in to the stores by shoppers.

Customers also can get a free 'Ultimate Green Bag' by purchasing one gallon of Shamrock Farms' milk at any Bashas' supermarket.

Additionally, the reusable shopping bags are currently on sale and will be for the foreseeable future for 99 cents each in all Bashas' stores, according to Johnny Basha.

The grocery chain also is using the 'Ultimate Green Bag' as part of a value-oriented promotion for shoppers. The chain will have numerous in-store and advertised weekly promotions which will allow customers to earn more free reusable bags when they purchase certain products, similar to the current promotion which gives shoppers one free bag when they buy a gallon of the Shamrock Farms milk. A variety of Bashas' suppliers and vendors are participating in the promotional program.

Johnny Basha says the retailer's goal is to get as many of its customers as possible multiple, free 'Ultimate Green Bags' so they can bring the reuseable bags with them when coming to shop the stores, thereby reducing both the number of single-use plastic carrier bags the chain uses, as well as decreasing the overall amount of plastic grocery bags that enter the waste stream in Arizona.

The reusable bag giveaway and ongoing promotion is one of the grocery chain's numerous environmental initiatives.

Those initiatives include energy, water and fuel conservation programs, packaging source-reduction and recycling programs and other "green" measures for all of its 160 stores.

Johnny Basha says the retailer currently is recycling about 25,000 tons of cardboard and plastic materials each year, is at present conserving enough energy annually to power 7,500 homes in Arizona, and is launching a fuel-efficiency program for its distribution center truck fleet, with the initial goal of eliminating 1,775 tons of carbon emissions annually. Bashas' said it arrived at this initial goal because it represents the equivalent of removing about 1/3 of its current trucking fleet from the road.

Earth Day 2008: City of Los Angeles, CGA and Southern California Grocery Chains Partner in Major Reuseable Shopping Bag Giveaway Promotion

The California Grocers Association (CGA), the trade group for the state's chain and independent grocers, is spearheading a major, multi-grocery retailer Earth Day 2008 reusable shopping bag giveaway in Southern California in partnership with the City of Los Angeles.

Beginning today and through tomorrow (Earth Day) a group of retail grocery companies which includes: Albertsons, Inc. (a division of SuperValu, Inc.); Ralphs Grocery Company (a division of Kroger Co.); Vons and Vons Pavilions (owned by Safeway Stores, Inc.) ; Food 4 Less; Smart & Final, Inc.; Henry's Farmers Markets (owned by Smart & Final); K.V. Mart supermarkets; El Super supermarkets; and Superior Grocers; is giving out about 50,000 free reusable shopping at more than 40 stores throughout Los Angeles.

Each district of Los Angeles has at least one store participating in the reusable bag giveaway, which is designed to encourage shoppers to bring their own bag to the supermarket, according to Ronald Fong CGA's new president.

"Reuseable shopping bags are a readily available, viable, and cost effective alternative to traditional (single-use) shopping bags," Fong told Fresh & Easy Buzz. "We commend the city of Los Angeles for taking the lead in reuseable bag awareness and education and hope this event sets the stage for partnerships with other municipalities throughout the state," Fong added.

The two-day Los Angeles Earth Day 2008 free reusable bag giveaway promotion began this morning at 6am. Each store customer will get one free bag per-transaction today and tomorrow or until the available 50,000 reusable shopping bags run out.

The reusable shopping bags being distributed to shoppers for free by the Southern California grocers are constructed of a polyester-like fiber material and are made from 100% post-consumer recycled material which includes recycled water and soda bottles. The bags have a message on them touting the fact they are made from 100% post-consumer recycled plastic. That message is: "Great Taste and Zero Waste."

CGA and its member-grocery chains and independents are trying to increase consumer use of reusable shopping bags in California, along with decreasing the amount of single-use plastic (and paper) carrier bags used in the state's supermarkets and grocery stores.

The grocers' association and its members supported AB 2449, the law which was enacted last year requiring California grocers with larger stores to place plastic grocery bag recycling bins in those stores, as well as to sell reuseable shopping bags in all those stores.

As we reported yesterday, a new bill AB 2058 passed the California State Assembly Natural Resource Committee last week.

That bill, written by Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, the same Southern California Assembly Member who authored AB 2449 (the in-store bag recycling bill), would require the state's grocers with larger stores to meet two single-use plastic carrier bag use reduction goals, one by 2011 and another by 2013. If either of those goals aren't met, the law would then require the grocers to charge a 15 cent per-bag fee to any customer who requested plastic.

AB 2058 now goes to the California State Assembly Appropriations Committee for debate and an eventual vote.

The city and county of Los Angeles also is considering a proposed single-use plastic carrier bag law which would either levy a fee on each plastic grocery bag shoppers request in the city's supermarkets and drug stores or perhaps ban the bags completely.

The California Grocers' Association represents about 500 retail members, who collectively operate about 6,000 food and grocery stores in California. The association also has over 200 supplier members who do business with these retailers.