Pictured above is the Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market store set to open on July 2 in Manhattan Beach, California. The photograph was taken by Fresh & Easy Buzz roving correspondent Reno Tom from in front of the Trader Joe's store just across the parking lot. The new Fresh & Easy and the Trader Joe's are neighborhoods in the shopping center and even share the same parking lot. Should be interesting.Fresh & Easy Buzz has reported the next Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market store set to open after the retailer's three month new store opening pause will be in Manhattan Beach, in Southern California on July 2.
Orange County Register (Orange County, Southern California) reporter and 'Fast Food Maven' blogger Nancy Luna emails F&E Buzz to let us know what's up next in terms of Southern California and Nevada new store openings after Manhattan Beach on July 2, based on her recent reporting:
>Las Vegas: A Fresh & Easy store will open in north Las Vegas soon after the July 2 opening of the Southern California store in Manhattan Beach.
>Southern California: On July 16, a Fresh & Easy market will open in the Southern California city of Fountain Valley, at Warner & Bushard. This will bring to seven the current total Fresh & Easy grocery markets in Orange County, with more on the way.
To date, Fresh & Easy has opened stores in the Orange County cities of: Orange, Huntington Beach, Laguna Hills, Anaheim, Buena Park and La Habra. More are planned in Orange (a second one), Fountain Valley, Fullerton and Westminster." (SEE MAP)
[Read the 'Fast Food Maven's' July 17 blog post here.]
Thanks FFM.
As Fresh & Easy Buzz has reported, beginning on July 2 with the opening of the Manhattan Beach Fresh & Easy grocery store, Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market will be resuming its frenetic new store opening blitz for the rest of the year, after the three month break.
That pace saw the food retailer opening a new store about every 2.5 -to- 3 days on average from November, 2007 until early April, 2008. Expect a similar pace between now and December, 2008. We will keep you posted with more new store locations soon.
Manhattan Beach store is strange -- nice to have a place close to pop into if you've run out of toilet paper or limes, or want a quick (overpriced) prepared meal. However, T.J.'s Has nothing to worry about. F&E has no personality. It's as if it cannot decide if it wants to be a Smart & Final, downscale Target or poor imitation of a neighborhood New York market. Right now, during opening week, aisles are impassable, with obese customers clogging all available space with their carts and lard-asses, waiting for their free ginger snap or ice-box cookie. They obviously weren't ready, because workers continue to drag huge palettes of goods through the streams of shoppers, who must maneuver shopping carts out of the way, as workers continue to stock shelves. The much-ballyhooed free canvas shopping bags were quickly depleted. Promises to provide them in the future, and coupons given upon checkout -- are a clear attempt to keep shoppers coming. The bags will probably never re-appear. Clearly, they were unprepared for this opening, or this is a terrible P.R. ploy. And, speaking of checkout, what a mess! Turns out that they have those stupid self-checkout stands, difficult if you have children with you or are injured. Asked if self-checkout is the only option, one perky clerk said "Oh, we prefer to call it 'assisted checking'." Puhleeze. Just check the groceries. Boring selection of beers and wines, which are expensive. Worth an extra walk across the parking lot to T.J.'s or a drive to BevMo. This will become the place people go to buy a few essentials when the cupboards are depleted, but will be no one's first choice. It's a novelty only, and will wear off. Too bad, because the employees are eager and helpful. Might not be a bad idea to let them check the groceries full-time.
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