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Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Vacant Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store in Pacifica, California Has the City's Mayor in a Pickle

Pacifica, California Mayor Jim Vreeland at the Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market location at 5550 Coast Highway in the city's Pedro Point neighborhood, where the mayor just happens to live, in October 2008. As you can see in the photograph, the store is near completion at the time. It was fully completed not long after, and has been sitting vacant ever since. (See here.) [Photo credit: Pacifica Tribune.]

Northern California Market Special Report - San Francisco Bay Area

In his most recent column - Sunday, July 18, 2010: When it Comes to Northern California - its Competitors are Rome Burning and Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is Nero Playing the Fiddle - our 'The Insider' columnist wrote about Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's long-postponed launch into Northern California.

In the column, 'The Insider' mentioned and discussed the Fresh & Easy store at 5550 Coast Highway in Pacifica, California's Pedro Point neighborhood, and how the fact it's been sitting vacant for nearly two years has and is putting the Mayor of Pacifica, Jim Vreeland - who not only lives in the Pedro Point neighborhood but used the fact he helped lure Tesco's Fresh & Easy to the city and neighborhood as part of his political campaign, offering it as an example of his efforts to bring a grocery store to a part of the city that's been in need of such a store for many years - in a bit of a pickle with his constituents and neighbors.

Here's what 'The Insider' said (below in italics) in his July 18 column:

The situation is similar with many residents in the Pedro Point neighborhood in Pacifica, California, where a completed and unconfirmed but reported on and verified by Fresh & Easy Buzz Fresh & Easy store location sits in a new shopping center, of which the store is supposed to be the anchor. The building, with Fresh & Easy colors painted on it, has been sitting empty since early 2009. Fresh & Easy Buzz has been communicating with numerous residents of the Pacifica neighborhood for over two years - and let's just say Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has little-to-zero goodwill among those folks. [You can read more about the Pedro Point, Pacifica Fresh & Easy store and the issue here.]

The city's mayor, Jim Vreeland, also lives in the Pedro Point neighborhood, and was instrumental in getting Tesco to locate a Fresh & Easy store at the location. He's been frustrated over the lack of information from Tesco because, when asked when the Fresh & Easy store will open, he has no answer to offer. Interestingly though, a number of neighborhood residents told me recently that they've given up so much on the Pedro Point Fresh & Easy store's ever opening, that the mayor these days gets few questions about it when he's out making his rounds. Not a ringing endorsement for Tesco's communication with the Mayor of Pacifica though.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has to date not confirmed the Pacifica store as one of its sites in Northern California. The coastal city of Pacifica is located in the San Francisco Bay Area, just a few miles from San Francisco.

However, Fresh & Easy Buzz first reported on the Pedro Point neighborhood Fresh & Easy store location in June 2008, in this story - June 24, 2008: Upcoming New Markets News: Tesco to Locate Yet Another Fresh & Easy Store in San Francisco Bay Area; 21 Thus Far By Fresh & Easy Buzz's Reporting.

Additionally, in October 2008, representatives of Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market met with residents of the Pedro Point Neighborhood Association to address concerns and answer questions about the planned Fresh & Easy store at 5550 Coast Highway. [See - October 7, 2008: Fresh & Easy Corporate Reps to Meet With Pedro Point Pacifica, CA Neighborhood Residents to Address Concerns Over Store to Open in 2009]

It was also in October 2008 when Pacifica Mayor Jim Vreeland went public about the Fresh & Easy store in his neighborhood in Pacifica. [See - October 13, 2008: Pacifica Riptide & Fresh & Easy Buzz Join Together to Offer Pacifica, California Citizen Opinions On the Fresh & Easy Store Coming to the City. [Read more here.] As you can see in the photographs at the link, the store is nearly completed in October 2008.

In other words, despite the fact Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has never confirmed the location, if you're a Fresh & Easy Buzz reader, or live in Pacifica, the vacant Fresh & Easy store at 5550 Coast Highway in Pacifica's Pedro Point neighborhood is about the best kept secret since the "rumor" about Lindsay Lohan going to jail.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy has announced and confirmed 37 store locations in Northern California - 19 in the Sacramento/Vacaville region and 18 in the San Francisco Bay Area, doing so over two and a half years ago.

However, Fresh & Easy Buzz has uncovered and reported on an additional 14 future Fresh & Easy store sites in Northern California. The 14 include the Pacifica location. [See our Northern California Fresh & Easy Store List.]

In his Sunday column, 'The Insider' was spot-on about the stalled Fresh & Easy store in Pacifica causing the city's mayor grief with his constituents: This morning, a Fresh & Easy Buzz reader who lives in Pacifica e-mailed us a Tuesday, July 20 post from "Jeff's Big Mouth," a local blog written by Jeffrey W Simons, that reports on and comments about the political, business and cultural environment and issues in the city of Pacifica, including focusing on the performance of Mayor Vreeland and the Pacifica City Council.

In his post the blogger takes Mayor Vreeland to task over the vacant, white elephant Fresh & Easy store at 5550 Coast Highway in the city's Pedro Point neighborhood, although he correctly points out it's Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market that's responsible for not opening the store, and not the mayor.

Read what local blogger "Jeff's Big Mouth" has to say on the topic and issue here.

Since Mayor Vreeland has no idea when Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market plans to open the store in his neighborhood, he's in a bit of a pickle when it comes to answering questions on the topic from not only his constituents (and Jeff) - but also from his neighbors in Pacifica's Pedro Point neighborhood.

The Fresh & Easy Buzz 2010 Northern California Market Special Report Series:

July 18, 2010: When it Comes to Northern California - its Competitors are Rome Burning and Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is Nero Playing the Fiddle

July 14, 2010: Tony Bennett Has Nothing on Whole Foods Market When it Comes to Loving San Francisco...That City By the Bay

July 6, 2010: Walmart Looking for Store Sites in Northern California For 20,000 Sq-Ft Neighborhood Market by Walmart Prototype Store

June 28, 2010: Smart & Final to Open its New Format SmartCo Foods Stores in California and Arizona

June 26, 2010: Tesco Planning to Announce in July When First Northern California Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores to Open

June 14, 2010: Newly-Named Whole Foods Market CO-CEO Walter Robb Comes Full Circle With the Opening of the New Store in Mill Valley CA

June 5, 2010: Sprouts Farmers Market Opens First Northern California Store in Sunnyvale; Strikes Up Partnership With Local Non-Profit Farm

May 29, 2010: Going Rural: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to Build First Store in Los Banos, California

May 28, 2010: First Phase of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market-Anchored Condo Development in San Francisco's Bayview Set For Completion in June

April 19, 2010: Tesco Debating Whether to Launch Fresh & Easy Into Northern California This Fiscal Year... or Wait

May 9, 2010: A Whopping 15 of Whole Foods Market's 41 New Stores in Development are in California - And Nine of The 15 Are In Northern CA

May 8, 2010: Sprouts, and Likely Henry's to Beat Fresh & Easy to Northern California Despite it's Big Head Start

May 6, 2010: Going Smaller & Getting 'Hybrid': Walmart's Smaller Supercenter in Vacant Retail Buildings Strategy Began in 2008

Additionally: Click here to read a selection of past stories on Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market and Northern California. Click the "older posts" link at the bottom of the linked pages for additional posts on the topic.

Monday, December 27, 2010

First Look at the Pacifica, California Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store, One of the First Opening in Northern California in Early 2011

Northern California Market Region Special Report

Progress is being made by Tesco in preparing its future Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market store in the Pedro Point Shopping Center, at 5550 Coast Highway, in Pacifica, California, for an early 2011 opening.

The store, which is located in the coastal San Francisco Bay Area city's Pedro Point neighborhood, is one of the first 12 Northern California region Fresh & Easy markets Tesco plans to open in the first quarter of next year. [See - December 14, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to Open 5800 Third Street 'Flagship' Store in San Francisco Later in 2011 Than Originally Announced. Also see the links to previous stories at the linked December 14, 2010 piece above.]

According to our most recent information, Tesco is targeting a March 2011 opening for the Pacifica store. However, that could change. It's possible the market could open as early as February, or as late as April 2011.

The store is new construction. The building has been completed since October 2008, as we've previously reported in Fresh & Easy Buzz.

The wood siding and exterior signage, which you can see in the photographs above and below taken today, both were installed in recent weeks. Also note the "Now Hiring" banner sign on the store's exterior. As far as we are aware, these are the first photographs to be published of the store since work has started to prepare for the early 2011 opening.

Workers are preparing to begin work on the store's interior. There are various fixtures and other equipment inside the future Fresh & Easy fresh food and grocery market, awaiting installation.

A number of residents of the Pedro Point neighborhood, where the city's mayor, Jim Vreeland, lives, tell us they're pleased to see Tesco plans to open the store that's been sitting vacant since fall 2008. In fact, the Pedro Point Neighborhood Association plans to invite a member of Fresh & Easy's management team to speak before the group of neighborhood residents early next year, leaders tell us.

Over the last couple years, some Pacifica residents even took to referring to the long-vacant Fresh & Easy store building as "Vreeland's Folly," since the mayor was instrumental in luring the grocer to the store in early 2008. We're told the mayor, who over the last couple years has often been asked by his neighbors when the grocery store will open, is pleased the store will soon open as well.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Spokesman Confirms Our South-to-North Distribution Reports in Talk to Pacifica, California Group

Pictured above is the Fresh & Easy store in the Pedro Point shopping center in Pacifica, which is set top open on March 9, 2001. The photo was taken by a Fresh & Easy Buzz correspondent at the end of December 2010. See: December 27, 2010: First Look at the Pacifica, California Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store, One of the First Opening in Northern California in Early 2011. A considerable amount of work inside the store has been completed since the photo was taken.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy in Northern California - 2011

In an August 22, 2010 column, our 'The Insider' columnist reported that Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market would distribute product to its stores in Northern California, which it plans to start opening on March 2, 2011, from its distribution center in Riverside County, which is hundreds of miles away in Southern California. You can read the column at: Challenges & Opportunities: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Will Supply its Northern CA Stores From its Riverside County DC in Southern CA. Fresh & Easy Buzz has also reported the information in other stories in the blog.

This south-to-north distribution scenario is an option we suggested Tesco should consider in a couple analysis pieces in Fresh & Easy Buzz going as far back as 2008, when at the time the retailer's plans were to launch into Northern California in early 2009. Tesco postponed its launch of Fresh & Easy into Northern California until the first quarter of this year.

However, according to our sources, it was only recently, about spring/early summer 2010, that Tesco corporate director and Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market CEO Tim Mason decided to distribute to the Northern California stores out of the Southern California facility - which will be a challenging objective for Fresh & Easy to successfully achieve, in our analysis and experience - deciding not to outfit and open the distribution facility in Northern California until a later time.

To our knowledge (and we follow the grocer rather closely), El Segundo, (Southern) California-based Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has never publicly announced - and thus confirmed our report - that its plans to distribute to the Northern California stores from the Riverside County facility in Southern California, which is a long haul away.

For that matter, Tesco's Fresh & Easy has never publicly announced it has a Northern California distribution facility in Stockton, California, even though we reported on its existence over three years ago, and have verified with the City of Stockton that Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is listed as the owner or leaser of the Stockton site with the city. Other publications have also reported on the Stockton facility, which the grocer doesn't plan to open this year.

Report verified

However, 'The Insider's' August 2010 report has now been officially verified by Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's director of communications and corporate spokesman, Brendon Wonnacott.

Wonnocott was the invited speaker at the January 13, 2011 meeting of the Pedro Point Community Association in Pacifica, California. The group is comprised of residents who live in the neighborhood where Tesco's Fresh & Easy is on March 9, 2011 opening one of its first three fresh food and grocery stores in Northern California.

The first two Fresh & Easy stores in Northern California ar set to open on March 2, in San Jose and Danville. [See - January 17, 2011: First Look at the Willow Glen-San Jose Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store Set to Open March 2, 2011; and January 12, 2011: First Northern California Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Opening March 2; Nine More to Follow March-April.]

The Pacifica Fresh & Easy store is in the Pedro Point Shopping Center, at 5550 Coast Highway. [See - January 12, 2011: First Northern California Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Opening March 2; Nine More to Follow March-April; and December 27, 2010: First Look at the Pacifica, California Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store, One of the First Opening in Northern California in Early 2011.]

At a recent meeting of the Pedro Point Community Association in Pacifica, Wonnocott, in response to a question from one of the members of the audience, who asked where the Pacifica and other Northern California stores would get product from, answered that until a Northern California distribution center is created, the Pacifica store and others in Northern California will be supplied out of the distribution facility in Riverside County, Southern California.

Wonnacott spoke at the neighborhood group's Thursday, January 13, 2001 meeting. The leaders of the Pedro Point Community Association had requested earlier in the year that a representative of Tesco's Fresh & Easy address the group before the store opens on March 9.

Following a brief presentation at the Thursday evening meeting on January 13, Wonnacott then took questions from members of the audience, all of whom belong to the community group and live in the Pedro Point neighborhood, which also happens to be where Pacifica's mayor, Jim Vreeland resides. [See - July 21, 2010: Vacant Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store in Pacifica, California Has the City's Mayor in a Pickle.]

Meeting Q&A

Below is a summary of the questions asked by neighborhood residents and the answers given by Tesco Fresh & Easy spokesman Brendon Wonnocott:

Question: The area behind the shopping center is often used as a dump, and gets very messy. Will Fresh & Easy fix this?
Answer/Wonnocott: Yes.

Q: The parking lot is currently over-crowded, and when Fresh & Easy opens it will become even more crowded.
A: Fresh & Easy will look into this issue.

Q: Who will occupy the smaller retail units adjacent to F&E?
A: It's unknown by us at this time

Q: What will Fresh & Easy do about beach-goers parking in the shopping center lot?
A: It’s not clear how much of a problem this will be.

Q: Will there be on-premises dining at the Fresh & Easy store?
A: No.

Q: Will local vendors be featured in the store? Organic produce?
A: It varies. In summer, about 75% of produce is locally produced, much of it organic.

Q: Will excessive packaging result in more garbage at the beach?
A: The store will have prominent recycling bins for customer use.

Q: Can Fresh & Easy install extra trash cans around the shopping center?
A: Good idea. F&E will look into this.

Q: Why did Fresh & Easy choose Pacifica?
A: F&E executives take a bus tour of prospective neighborhoods, and Pacifica was one of their first choices. The store has good visibility, it is a pretty location.

Q: What is Fresh & Easy's relationship with the City of Pacifica?
A: F&E has hired a consultant whose job is to manage that interface.

Q: Is Fresh & Easy a subsidiary of a UK company.
A: Yes, F&E is a subsidiary of Tesco, but F&E is a U.S. company. It will not feature British goods.

Q: What will the (Pacifica) store's hours be?
A: 8 AM to 10 PM

Q: Will there be a fish market?
A: Yes, but it will not be large.
Note: Fresh & Easy stores feature some packaged fresh fish and seafood items in the store's self-service refrigerated meat cases.

Q: How big will the entire store be?
A: 10,000 square feet.

Q: When will deliveries be made? At night?
A: Don’t know yet, but F&E will be mindful of the sound of delivery trucks.

Q: How much alcohol will be available in the store?
A: About one aisle, beer and wine selected to accompany the food for sale.

Q: How much additional lighting will be in the parking lot?
A: F&E uses highly efficient LED lighting, and the light is directed downward.

Q: How will the Pacifica store be supplied?
A: Until a northern California distribution center is created, the store will be supplied from the Southern California distribution center in Riverside.

Q: Several F&E stores have been closed recently. Why?
A: The stores were in economically distressed neighborhoods that could not support them. There are plans to re-open these stores as the economy improves.

Issues of concern

The members of the neighborhood group are concerned chiefly about three issues involving the Fresh & Easy store opening in their neighborhood next month - noise, traffic congestion, increased litter and its abatement, and sales of alcoholic beverages.

The noise issue primarily involves deliveries to the store, while the traffic congestion concerns involve parking and other traffic issues in and around the Fresh & Easy stores.

The litter concern is something many of the neighborhood group's members say they want headed-off by Tesco's Fresh & Easy before it becomes an issue. Pacifica is a beach community that's extremely concerned with preventing litter, particularly single-use plastic grocery bags and food packaging, from getting onto its beaches and into the ocean. The coastline runs right along the Pedro Point neighborhood and near the Fresh & Easy store.

Coming full circle

The Pedro Point Community Association plans to keep a close eye on the store and these concerns once the Fresh & Easy market opens on March 9, its leaders tell Fresh & Easy Buzz.

We don't doubt what they tell us because it was in October of 2008 when the group first requested that a representative from Tesco's Fresh & Easy come speak to the community group, as we reported in a story on October 7, 2008: Fresh & Easy Corporate Reps to Meet With Pedro Point Pacifica, CA Neighborhood Residents to Address Concerns Over Store to Open in 2009.

At the time the Fresh & Easy corporate rep spoke to the group in October 2008, the retailer hadn't even announced it planned to open a store in the coastal city of Pacifica. In fact, members of the Pedro Point Community Association learned of the grocers plans by reading about the news in Fresh & Easy Buzz, in this June 24, 2008 story: Upcoming New Markets News: Tesco to Locate Yet Another Fresh & Easy Store in San Francisco Bay Area; 21 Thus Far By Fresh & Easy Buzz's Reporting, they told us. The neighborhood association's leaders contacted Tesco's Fresh & Easy shortly after our story appeared. They were able to get a representative of the chain to speak at their meeting in October 2008.

Over two years later, the group continues to follow Tesco's plans for the fresh food and grocery store set to open next month, on March 9, in their neighborhood. As such, Pacifica's Pedro Point Community Association appears to us to be the type of local and neighborhood group that a grocer like Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market should do all it can to get on its side.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Two Years On: Tesco Opens First Two Northern California Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Tomorrow

The Fresh & Easy store in Danville (pictured above) opens tomorrow, along with a market in San Jose.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy in Northern California - 2011

Tomorrow morning (March 2, 2011) at 10 a.m. Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market will open its first two small-format (10,000-12,000 square-foot) fresh food and grocery markets in Northen California.

The two stores, the first of a 11 confirmed Fresh & Easy stores set to open in March and April, are in the San Francisco Bay area cities of San Jose (at Bird Ave. & Minnesota Ave.), which is in the South Bay, and Danville (at Diablo Blvd. & Hwy 680), which is in the East Bay Area.

We profiled the two stores in January and February of this year. You can read the detailed stories, which include photographs of the work-in-progress Fresh & Easy markets, at the links below:

>January 17, 2011: First Look at the Willow Glen-San Jose Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store Set to Open March 2, 2011.

>February 14, 2011: First Look: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store in Northern California's Danville Set to Open on March 2

We'll have coverage of the San Jose and Danville store grand openings tomorrow in Fresh & Easy Buzz.

Tesco's original plans were to launch its Fresh & Easy chain into Northern California in early 2009. However, siting the recession as its official reason, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market postponed the launch until tomorrow.

The additional and unofficial reason, which we've reported on in Fresh & Easy Buzz since 2008, Tesco postponed its Northern California launch for about two years, is because of the less-than-stellar performance to date of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, which lost $253 million last year (fiscal year 2009/10).

Tesco's 2010/11 fiscal year ended yesterday. The retailer says it will report a loss of $250-$253 for the just-ended fiscal year, about the same as last year's, despite the fact sales at Fresh & Easy have grown considerably year-over-year. In October 2010 Tesco reported a mid-year loss for Fresh & Easy of $151 million. [See - October 5, 2010: Philip Clarke's Early Welcome to America: Tesco Logs $151 Million Half-Year Loss For Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.] Tesco reports its fy-2010/11 financials later this year.

Nine more Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market stores are set to open in March and April.

Next up after tomorrow's openings is the store at Cabrillo Hwy. & Linda Mar Blvd. in Pacifica, which is just a few miles from San Francisco on the coast. We profiled that store in this piece, which includes photographs: First Look at the Pacifica, California Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store, One of the First Opening in Northern California in Early 2011.

Below is the store opening schedule for the remaining eight Fresh & Easy stores opening this month and in April:

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

Nine of the 11 stores are in the San Francisco Bay Area. The other two markets - Vacaville and Modesto - are located not far away.

Vacaville is about halfway between the Bay Area and Sacramento. It's about an hour's drive from San Francisco.

Modesto, which is in the Northern Central Valley, is about 90 minutes from San Francisco. It's less than an hour's drive from the Easy Bay Area city of Pleasanton, where Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is opening a store on April 13.

Related Stories

February 3, 2011: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Spokesman Confirms Our South-to-North Distribution Reports in Talk to Pacifica, California Group

February 1, 2011: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Still Plans April-May 2011 Openings For First Two San Francisco Stores

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

January 17, 2011: First Look at the Willow Glen-San Jose Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store Set to Open March 2, 2011

January 14, 2011: Tesco 'Banking' on California in 2011 For Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market USA

January 12, 2011: First Northern California Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Opening March 2; Nine More to Follow March-April

December 30, 2010: Seven Predictions For Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market For 2011

December 27, 2010: First Look at the Pacifica, California Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store, One of the First Opening in Northern California in Early 2011

November 22, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Plans Five New Stores in Northern California's Sacramento Region

November 12, 2010: Postponed But Not Abandoned: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Gearing Up For Northern California Launch

November 4, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Confirms Our October Reports On 10 New Stores Opening in Early 2011

October 25, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to Open 10 New Stores in 10 Southern California Cities in January-February 2011

October 17, 2010: No Additional New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Set to Open This Year; Ten New Units Planned For January 2011

October 8, 2010: Incoming Tesco CEO Philip Clarke Needs to 'Imagine' When it Comes to Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market USA

July 18, 2010: When it Comes to Northern California - its Competitors are Rome Burning and Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is Nero Playing the Fiddle

September 26, 2010: While Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Postponed, Target Opened 42 'P-Fresh' Fresh Food and Grocery Markets in Northern California

August 22, 2010: Challenges & Opportunities: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Will Supply its Northern CA Stores From its Riverside County DC in Southern CA

August 21, 2010: April 2010 Prediction Correct: February 2011 Target to Open First Eight Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores in Northern California

August 19, 2010: Tesco Will Open its First Eight Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores in Northern California in 'Early 2011.'

August 17, 2010: Henry's Farmers Market 'Beats' Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to Northern California Despite Multi-Year Head Start; Elk Grove Store Opens Tomorrow

July 29, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Putting Together List of Managers Interested in Transferring to Northern California

July 21, 2010: Vacant Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store in Pacifica, California Has the City's Mayor in a Pickle

April 19, 2010: Tesco Debating Whether to Launch Fresh & Easy Into Northern California This Fiscal Year... or Wait

June 26, 2010: Tesco Planning to Announce in July When First Northern California Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores to Open

March 7, 2009: Analysis & Commentary: The Seven Retail Operations Changes Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Needs to Make to Help it Get On the Success Track

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

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Tesco Will Open its First Eight Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores in Northern California in 'Early 2011'

Northern California Market Special Report

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market announced today in a press release it plans to open its first eight stores in Northern California in "early 2011."

The announcement today by Fresh & Easy comes a mere 19 days later than we predicted it would.

In this June 26, 2010 story - Tesco Planning to Announce in July When First Northern California Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores to Open - Fresh & Easy Buzz predicted the grocer would make such an announcement before the end of July, adding that since the timeline for its Northern California launch has been an ever-fluid and changing topic at Tesco, the announcement could come a bit later than we predicted.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy didn't offer a specific date in its press release today for when the first eight Northern California stores would open, instead saying the first batch of stores will open in "early 2011." However, our most recent reporting, prior to today's announcement, has been that the first stores will open in February or March 2011, which is "early 2011." For example, read our latest piece on the topic here: July 29, 2010 - Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Putting Together List of Managers Interested in Transferring to Northern California.

Additionally, in a story published yesterday [August 17, 2010: Henry's Farmers Market 'Beats' Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to Northern California Despite Multi-Year Head Start; Elk Grove Store Opens Tomorrow], as part of our 'Northern California Market Special Report' series, we discussed Tesco Fresh & Easy's potentially closing window of opportunity in Northern California if the grocer doesn't announce it plans for the region. A day later Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has announced it plans to open its first eight Northern California.
stores in "early 2011."

The locations of the first eight stores to open early next year are:

>San Francisco: 3rd St & Carroll Ave
>San Jose: Bird Ave & Minnesota Ave
>Danville: Diablo Blvd & Hwy 680
>Pacifica: Cabrillo Hwy & Linda Mar Blvd
>Vacaville: Elmira Rd & Nut Tree Rd
>Modesto: Oakdale Rd & Lancey Dr
>Walnut Creek: Ygnacio Valley Rd & San Carlos Dr
>Concord: Clayton Rd & Ygnacio Valley Rd

The San Francisco, San Jose, Walnut Creek, Concord and Danville stores (all located in the San Francisco Bay Area) and the Vacaville (between the Bay Area and Sacramento) locations are all part of the original 37 Fresh & Easy stores in Northern California that Tesco announced it planned to open nearly three years ago.

The Pacifica (Bay Area) and Modesto (Northern Central Valley) stores have never been confirmed by Tesco's Fresh & Easy, although we've reported on the locations extensively, until now. [See our Northern California Fresh & Easy Store List for the 37 confirmed locations in Northern California, along with the numerous unconfirmed locations we've reported on.]

[Read this piece on Fresh & Easy in Modesto, California - March 31, 2009: Despite Having Postponed its Northern California Launch Indefinitely; Tesco's Fresh & Easy Planning Third Store in Modesto, California. Also see the links to earlier stories on the topic at the story.]

[Read our lastest story on the Pacifica location - July 21, 2010: Vacant Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store in Pacifica, California Has the City's Mayor in a Pickle.]

[Also read this recent column by our 'The Insider' columnist - July 18, 2010: When it Comes to Northern California - its Competitors are Rome Burning and Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is Nero Playing the Fiddle.]

[We've written about all of the eight stores, along with numerous others, over the last three years. You can look through this link and also here for a selection, along with searching by store, city, ect. at the link. Also see the many links to other posts in the various stories.]

In April 2010, Fresh & Easy Buzz began our ongoing 'Northern California Market Special Report' series. We did so specifically for the purpose of covering Fresh & Easy in Northern California, as well as the larger market, as a run up to today's announcement by Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market. For any readers who might have wondered why we've been devoting so much effort to Northern California since April, now you know why. Our special report series on the region will continue.

Fresh & Easy Buzz will be offering additional coverage, analysis and commentary on Tesco's announcement today regarding the opening of its first eight Fresh & Easy stores in Northern California in "early 2011." Stay tuned...

But until then, we suggest you read the stories linked above, along with reading the stories linked below, which have appeared thus far in our 'Northern California Market Special Report' series.

August 17, 2010: Henry's Farmers Market 'Beats' Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to Northern California Despite Multi-Year Head Start; Elk Grove Store Opens Tomorrow

July 29, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Putting Together List of Managers Interested in Transferring to Northern California

July 25, 2010: Safeway to Start Construction on New Pleasanton, California Flagship Store Soon; Thanksgiving 2011 Target Opening

July 22, 2010: 'The Insider' - After Four Years in the High Weeds in Northern & Central California, Kroger Co. is Emerging to Grow its Foods Co Chain

July 21, 2010: Vacant Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store in Pacifica, California Has the City's Mayor in a Pickle

July 18, 2010: 'The Insider' - When it Comes to Northern California - its Competitors are Rome Burning and Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is Nero Playing the Fiddle

July 14, 2010: Tony Bennett Has Nothing on Whole Foods Market When it Comes to Loving San Francisco...That City By the Bay

July 6, 2010: Walmart Looking for Store Sites in Northern California For 20,000 Sq-Ft Neighborhood Market by Walmart Prototype Store

June 28, 2010: Smart & Final to Open its New Format SmartCo Foods Stores in California and Arizona

June 26, 2010: Tesco Planning to Announce in July When First Northern California Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores to Open

June 14, 2010: Newly-Named Whole Foods Market CO-CEO Walter Robb Comes Full Circle With the Opening of the New Store in Mill Valley CA

June 5, 2010: Sprouts Farmers Market Opens First Northern California Store in Sunnyvale; Strikes Up Partnership With Local Non-Profit Farm

May 29, 2010: Going Rural: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to Build First Store in Los Banos, California

May 28, 2010: First Phase of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market-Anchored Condo Development in San Francisco's Bayview Set For Completion in June

April 19, 2010: Tesco Debating Whether to Launch Fresh & Easy Into Northern California This Fiscal Year... or Wait

May 9, 2010: A Whopping 15 of Whole Foods Market's 41 New Stores in Development are in California - And Nine of The 15 Are In Northern CA

May 8, 2010: Sprouts, and Likely Henry's to Beat Fresh & Easy to Northern California Despite it's Big Head Start

May 6, 2010: Going Smaller & Getting 'Hybrid': Walmart's Smaller Supercenter in Vacant Retail Buildings Strategy Began in 2008

April 19, 2010: Tesco Debating Whether to Launch Fresh & Easy Into Northern California This Fiscal Year... or Wait

Additionally: Click here to read a selection of past stories on Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market and Northern California. Click the "older posts" link at the bottom of the linked pages for additional posts/pages.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

April 2010 Prediction Correct: February 2011 Target to Open First Eight Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores in Northern California

Breaking Buzz: Northern California Market Special Report

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is hooting for a mid-to-late February 2011 opening for some or all of the eight stores it said on Thursday, August 19 it plans to open in "early 2011," Fresh & Easy Buzz has learned.

[See this related story: August 19, 2010 - Tesco Will Open its First Eight Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores in Northern California in 'Early 2011.']

Of particular importance to the grocer, Tesco wants to open the future Fresh & Easy store at Third Street and Carroll Avenue in San Francisco's Bayview neighborhood and the unit at Cabrillo Highway & Linda Mar Boulevard in Pacifica in February of next year. It would like to open as many of the first eight Northern California Fresh & Easy units as possible in February 2011. But the two stores are a top early priority for Tesco.

The reason Tesco didn't offer a specific opening date for the eight Northern California Fresh & Easy stores and instead said "early 2011" is because the fresh food and grocery chain isn't sure it will have the stores ready to open by the end of February 2001, which is the target opening month. If the stores aren't ready to open by the end of February, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market feels confident they will be able to open some if not all eight Northern California units by mid-to-late March 2011.

The Third Street & Carrol Avenue condominium development (pictured above), which includes a Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market store as the ground floor retail anchor, in San Francisco's Bayview district was kicked off with a big bang on December 13, 2007, featuring a ground-breaking ceremony and press conference attended by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, Goldman Sachs (financer and owner) executives, Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market CEO Tim Mason and other dignitaries. Tesco's Fresh & Easy used the ground breaking ceremony and press conference to signal its intention to open numerous Fresh & Easy markets in the San Francisco Bay Area and elsewhere in Northern California. In January 2008 the grocer announced it's plans to open 18 Fresh & Easy stores in the San Francisco Bay Area. We predicted in May 2010 it would be one of the first Northern California stores to open. It's at the top of the list of the eight stores in Tesco's August 19, 2010 announcement.

In this April 2010 story - Tesco Debating Whether to Launch Fresh & Easy Into Northern California This Fiscal Year... or Wait - we predicted Tesco would start opening the first of its batch of Fresh & Easy stores in Northern California before the end of its 2010/11 fiscal year, which is over at the end of February 2011. That remains the target opening date, particularly for the San Francisco and Pacifica stores mentioned above.

In this July 29, 2010 piece - July 29, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Putting Together List of Managers Interested in Transferring to Northern California - we noted the February 2011 Northern California store opening target date was (and is) fluid at Fresh & Easy for the reason described above. In the piece, published three weeks before the grocer's August 19 Northern California store opening announcement, we also said a March opening of the first batch of stores in Northern California was being discussed if the February 2011 deadline can't be met.

In this story - June 26, 2010: Tesco Planning to Announce in July When First Northern California Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores to Open - we predicted Tesco would announce when it plans to open the first Fresh & Easy stores in Northern California by the end of July 2011. The retailer made the announcement a mere 19 days later. Late July was the initial target date for the announcement.

Pacifica

As we've reported previously, the Pacifica Fresh & Easy location at 5550 Coast Highway in the city's Pedro Point neighborhood, which is where the Mayor of Pacifica, Jim Vreeland, lives, has been completed for nearly two years, although no interior work has been done. That's about to change though: Fresh & Easy is preparing to begin the interior work in the store any day now, according to our sources.

A representative of the construction company doing the interior work tells us the firm has met in the store with Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market real estate executives who've approved the final interior plans for the store.

Additionally, according to Mary Ann Nihart, the Mayor Pro-Tem on the Pacifica City Council, Fresh & Easy representatives who tell her the interior work should be starting soon, and that the grocer is shooting for a February 2011 opening for the store in the coastal city located just a few miles from San Francisco.

San Francisco

In a May 2011 story - May 28, 2010: First Phase of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market-Anchored Condo Development in San Francisco's Bayview Set For Completion in June - we reported that the first phase of a condominium development at Third Street and Carroll Avenue in San Francisco's Bayview neighborhood was set to be completed by the end of June 2011. A Fresh & Easy store is the ground floor retail anchor of the new development. It's the San Francisco store at the top of the list in Tesco's August 19 announcement about the first eight Fresh & Easy stores to open in Northern California in "early 2011."

That "first phase," which includes the ground floor Fresh & Easy space of about 14,000 square-feet, has essentially been completed, with just a few minor details needing to be finished. According to the developer, Tesco's Fresh & Easy is planning, like it is with the Pacifica location, to soon start work on the interior of its future store at 5800 Third Street (at Carroll Avenue) in San Francisco's Bayview district.

Remaining six stores

The Bayview San Francisco and Point Pedro Pacifica stores are the only two of the first eight Fresh & Easy stores set to open in February (or possibly March) 2001 that are built from the ground-up units. And as noted above, both buildings are completed.

In contrast, the remaining six of those first eight Northern California Fresh & Easy stores - San Jose: Bird Ave & Minnesota Ave; Danville: Diablo Blvd & Hwy 680; Walnut Creek: Ygnacio Valley Rd & San Carlos Dr; Concord: Clayton Rd & Ygnacio Valley Rd (all in the San Francisco Bay Area); Modesto (Northern Central Valley): Oakdale Rd & Lancey Dr; and Vacaville (located between the Bay Area and Sacramento): Elmira Rd & Nut Tree Rd - are all existing, vacant retail buildings Fresh & Easy acquired in late 2007-early 2008.

Since the six buildings are existing, all Tesco has to do now that it has a February 2011 opening date target and has publicly announced the eight stores will open in "early 2001," is to start interior construction in the stores and do whatever minor exterior remodeling is needed; paint the exteriors in the Fresh & Easy colors and add signs and logos.

Some minimal exterior work has already been done on some of the six stores. Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market plans to begin interior work in these stores, like it does in the San Francisco and Pacifica locations, in the coming days, according to our sources.

Since the grocer has a ready-made interior layout and package, which it customizes only minimally depending on a particular store's location and configuration, it's perfectly feasible for all eight stores to be ready to open by mid-to-late February 2011, a full six months from now.

Fresh & Easy would like to be able to open all eight of its first Northern California stores in the same month, in February 2011.

However, according to our sources, it's not wedded to that scenario. Instead, depending on how many units are completed by then, along with some other criteria, it could open some in February and others in March, even extending two or three of the openings to April 2011, although our present information is that it wants to have all eight opened and operating by the end of March 2011, since it has numerous other Northern California units in the pipeline. [See our Northern California Fresh & Easy Store List.] If only one or two of the eight stores are completed in February, Fresh & Easy might also wait until March to open all eight. Remember, the February-March target is fluid, as we've been saying for many months.

Tesco is also in the process of obtaining new store sites in Northern California, in the San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento region, Northern Central Valley and elsewhere in the market region. We will be reporting on some of those new store sites soon.

Meanwhile, perhaps in a nod to Fresh & Easy Buzz's 'The Insider' columnist - who titled his July 18, 2010 column: 'When it Comes to Northern California - its Competitors are Rome Burning and Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is Nero Playing the Fiddle' - Tesco has stopped paying the fiddle when it comes to Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market and Northern California, and instead of continuing to watch its competitors burn from the sidelines, is preparing to soon join the fray. Stay tuned.

Below are the linked stories thus far in our '2010 Northern California Market Special Report' series. Note: There are links to other related stories on most of the linked stories below.

August 17, 2010: Henry's Farmers Market 'Beats' Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to Northern California Despite Multi-Year Head Start; Elk Grove Store Opens Tomorrow

July 29, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Putting Together List of Managers Interested in Transferring to Northern California

July 25, 2010: Safeway to Start Construction on New Pleasanton, California Flagship Store Soon; Thanksgiving 2011 Target Opening

July 22, 2010: 'The Insider' - After Four Years in the High Weeds in Northern & Central California, Kroger Co. is Emerging to Grow its Foods Co Chain

July 21, 2010: Vacant Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store in Pacifica, California Has the City's Mayor in a Pickle

July 18, 2010: 'The Insider' - When it Comes to Northern California - its Competitors are Rome Burning and Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is Nero Playing the Fiddle

July 14, 2010: Tony Bennett Has Nothing on Whole Foods Market When it Comes to Loving San Francisco...That City By the Bay

July 6, 2010: Walmart Looking for Store Sites in Northern California For 20,000 Sq-Ft Neighborhood Market by Walmart Prototype Store

June 28, 2010: Smart & Final to Open its New Format SmartCo Foods Stores in California and Arizona

June 26, 2010: Tesco Planning to Announce in July When First Northern California Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores to Open

June 14, 2010: Newly-Named Whole Foods Market CO-CEO Walter Robb Comes Full Circle With the Opening of the New Store in Mill Valley CA

June 5, 2010: Sprouts Farmers Market Opens First Northern California Store in Sunnyvale; Strikes Up Partnership With Local Non-Profit Farm

May 29, 2010: Going Rural: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to Build First Store in Los Banos, California

May 28, 2010: First Phase of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market-Anchored Condo Development in San Francisco's Bayview Set For Completion in June

April 19, 2010: Tesco Debating Whether to Launch Fresh & Easy Into Northern California This Fiscal Year... or Wait

May 9, 2010: A Whopping 15 of Whole Foods Market's 41 New Stores in Development are in California - And Nine of The 15 Are In Northern CA

May 8, 2010: Sprouts, and Likely Henry's to Beat Fresh & Easy to Northern California Despite it's Big Head Start

May 6, 2010: Going Smaller & Getting 'Hybrid': Walmart's Smaller Supercenter in Vacant Retail Buildings Strategy Began in 2008

April 19, 2010: Tesco Debating Whether to Launch Fresh & Easy Into Northern California This Fiscal Year... or Wait

Related

March 31, 2009: Despite Having Postponed its Northern California Launch Indefinitely; Tesco's Fresh & Easy Planning Third Store in Modesto, California.

Additionally: Click here to read a selection of past stories on Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market and Northern California. Click the "older posts" link at the bottom of the linked pages for additional posts/pages.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

First Northern California Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Opening March 2; Nine More to Follow March-April

The Fresh & Easy store building at Cabrillo Highway and Linda Mar Boulevard in Pacifica, California (pictured above) has been completed for over two years. But the wood siding and signs were recently added by construction workers. The store's exterior has been completed, and workers have started getting the inside of the store ready for its March 9, 2011 opening. (The photo was taken by a Fresh & Easy Buzz correspondent on December 27, 2011.) See - December 27, 2010: First Look at the Pacifica, California Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store, One of the First Opening in Northern California in Early 2011.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market announced today the opening dates for its first 11 stores in Northern California.

The first two Fresh & Easy stores are set to open on March 2, 2011. The remaining nine stores will open throughout March and into late April 2011.

Below are the 11 Northern California Fresh & Easy store locations and the opening dates:

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

Work on the exterior of the Fresh & Easy store at Clayton Road and Ygnacio Valley Road in Concord, California (pictured above), which is set to open March 16, is nearly completed, as of this week.

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

In addition to the 11 stores opening between March and April of this year, Tesco corporate director and Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's CEO Tim Mason said today the grocer will be announcing the opening dates for two Fresh & Easy markets in San Francisco in the "coming weeks." The two stores are located at 32nd Ave. and Clement St. in the city's Richmond District, and Third St. & Carroll Ave., in San Francisco's Bayview District.

Fresh & Easy Buzz has reported since early 2010 that Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market would start opening its first batch of stores in Northern California in March 2011. The announcement by the retailer today confirms our extensive reporting.

Click on the following green links to read some of that reporting and analysis: Fresh and Easy Northern California, Fresh and Easy Sacramento Metropolitan Region, Fresh and Easy Sacramento-Vacaville, Northern California, Northern California Special Report.

More to come. Stay tuned.

Fresh & Easy Buzz

Pages

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Vacant Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store in Pacifica, California Has the City's Mayor in a Pickle

Monday, December 27, 2010

First Look at the Pacifica, California Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store, One of the First Opening in Northern California in Early 2011

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Spokesman Confirms Our South-to-North Distribution Reports in Talk to Pacifica, California Group

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Two Years On: Tesco Opens First Two Northern California Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Tomorrow

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Tesco Will Open its First Eight Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores in Northern California in 'Early 2011'

Saturday, August 21, 2010

April 2010 Prediction Correct: February 2011 Target to Open First Eight Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores in Northern California

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

First Northern California Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Opening March 2; Nine More to Follow March-April

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