[Photo Credit: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.]News/Analysis/Commentary
Sometimes the lights all shinin' on me;
Other times I can barely see.
Lately it occurs to me, what a long, strange trip its been.
- Truckin': The Greatful Dead
As we reported in this July 16, 2010 story - South Los Angeles Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store to Accept WIC Vouchers July 29; Additional California Units to Follow, and have been reporting on for some time prior to it - tomorrow (July 29) is the day Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market begins accepting WIC Vouchers (Woman, Infant & Children Program) at its first store - the Central and Adams unit (pictured at top) in South Los Angeles.
Earlier this week store employees, having recently completed training in how to accept and process the WIC Vouchers, were preparing for what one told a Fresh & Easy Buzz correspondent will be "going live" [with WIC] on Thursday.
As we also reported in our July 16 piece, Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market plans to roll out the acceptance of the vouchers - which are distributed to qualifying mothers by California WIC and can be used to purchase healthy food and beverage items for children like infant formula, whole milk, whole grain breads and cereals, fresh produce and other items - to additional stores about 30-45 days after the south Los Angeles store begins accepting WIC.
The South Los Angeles Fresh & Easy store, which is at 1025 East Adams in the low-income neighborhood, opened in February of this year.
There's a Superior Grocers supermarket near the Fresh & Easy which accepts WIC Vouchers, as do all of the Southern California-based chain's stores. By not accepting WIC at the Central and Adams Fresh & Easy store - or at any of its 159 Fresh & Easy stores in California, Nevada and Arizona for that matter - for the last five months, Tesco has been losing out on sales of numerous high ring WIC items like infant formula, whole milk, whole crain cereals and more to the Superior Grocers' supermarket down the street. [See - February 23, 2010: Food Deserts & WIC Vouchers: Half A Loaf For the New Fresh & Easy Store Opening Tomorrow in South Los Angeles and February 24, 2010: Fresh & Easy Store Opens its Doors in South Los Angeles]
Additionally, employees at the Central and Adams Fresh & Easy have since February been forced daily to turn away customers who shop at the store and receive WIC Vouchers but who can't use them because the grocery chain doesn't accept WIC. This also is the experience for employees at numerous other Fresh & Easy stores - and has been that way since the first batch of stores opened in November 2007.
It was in early 2008 when we first pointed out the folly of Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market not accepting WIC Vouchers in its stores. Our argument has basically been two-fold: That not only is the grocer losing valuable sales (a bad business decision) by not taking WIC, it's also failing to be an ethical grocer because there's a pact between nearly all food retailers, particularly those who have it as a mission to serve "neighborhoods," and the U.S. federal and state governments to honor WIC in their respective stores. Since Tesco's Fresh & Easy has "neighborhood" in its name - Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market - it certainly claims as one of its missions to serve "all" members of the communities and neighborhoods, including those residents who use WIC, where it has its stores.
Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market CEO Tim Mason was paid about $6.1 million for his services last year. Yet it took him nearly three years from when we first pointed it out to change the policy of not accepting WIC Vouchers at the grocery chain he runs. And opening the store in South Los Angeles in February of this year, which has one of the highest per-capita percentages of WIC users in California, without accepting the vouchers in the first place is...well, priceless.
But starting tomorrow, unless there's a glitch with the store's POS system or some other reason to postpone the WIC acceptance launch, shoppers at the Central and Adams Fresh & Easy store who use WIC will no longer have to go down the street to Superior Grocers to use their vouchers. And over the next few weeks Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market will start to get a good idea of how much sales they've been missing in their stores for over two years by not accepting WIC Vouchers, particularly in the stores like Central and Adams and others located in low-income areas and neighborhoods.
Tesco's Fresh & Easy and WIC - Recent Linkage:
July 16, 2010: South Los Angeles Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store to Accept WIC Vouchers July 29; Additional California Units to Follow
July 7: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to Start Accepting WIC Vouchers at Central & Adams Store in South Los Angeles This Month
February 23, 2010: Food Deserts & WIC Vouchers: Half A Loaf For the New Fresh & Easy Store Opening Tomorrow in South Los Angeles
February 24, 2010: Fresh & Easy Store Opens its Doors in South Los Angeles
[Editor's Note: Nearly three years ago, Fresh & Easy Buzz first pointed out and reported on the fact that Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, which opened its first stores in November 2007, didn't accept WIC Vouchers.Additionally, in analysis and commentary pieces beginning in 2008 - and right up until the grocer decided to accept the vouchers at its first store, which will be the Central and Adams unit in South Los Angeles, on July 29 - we've also pointed out in detail how, from both business (added sales) and ethical grocer perspectives, Fresh & Easy was missing the boat by not accepting WIC in its stores. [Suggested reading: September 7, 2008: Analysis & Commentary: Should Tesco's Fresh & Easy Put An Asterisk Next to its Motto? Yes; Unless it Corrects Four Operational Omissions and December 29, 2008: Tesco's Fresh & Easy, 'Food Deserts' and WIC Vouchers; A 'Year-End' Analysis & Commentary]
Below is a selection of some of those past, and related, stories from Fresh & Easy Buzz:
July 7, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to Start Accepting WIC Vouchers at Central & Adams Store in South Los Angeles This Month
September 7, 2008: Analysis & Commentary: Should Tesco's Fresh & Easy Put An Asterisk Next to its Motto? Yes; Unless it Corrects Four Operational Omissions
December 29, 2008: Tesco's Fresh & Easy, 'Food Deserts' and WIC Vouchers; A 'Year-End' Analysis & Commentary
February 10, 2008: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Opens Latest New Store in 'Food Desert' City of Compton, California
July 2008: Tesco's to Open A Fresh & Easy Grocery Market in Low Income, Underserved South Central Los Angeles Neighborhood
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
July 11, 2008: 'Food Desert' Neighborhoods and Southern California: More on the Fresh & Easy Store Planned For South Central Los Angeles
July 15, 2008: Fresh Food to Bloom in An Inner-City Food Desert: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Breaks Ground For New Store in Underserved South Los Angeles Neighborhood
February 23, 2010: Food Deserts & WIC Vouchers: Half A Loaf For the New Fresh & Easy Store Opening Tomorrow in South Los Angeles
February 24, 2010: Fresh & Easy Store Opens its Doors in South Los Angeles
April 22, 2010: Breaking Buzz: Tesco's Fresh & Easy to Accept WIC Vouchers at its East Adams Store in South Los Angeles
May 14, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Not Yet Accepting WIC Vouchers at South L.A. Store; No Start Date Set
July 6, 2008: Former NBA Great Earvin 'Magic' Johnson is Working His Business Magic in Urban, Inner City Neighborhoods; We Offer An Idea For Tesco's Fresh & Easy
May 12, 2008: Food Deserts: Coalition to Create 'Blue Ribbon' Commission, Draft Report to Encourage Grocers to Open Stores in Underserved Los Angeles Neighborhoods
February 13, 2008: Leading Democratic Candidate for President Barack Obama Joins Group in Asking Tesco's Fresh & Easy to Put More Stores in Underserved Neighborhoods
June 3, 2008: Fresh & Easy Buzz Redux: Barack Obama to Tesco's Fresh & Easy in Our February 13 Piece: 'Build More Stores in Underserved Neighborhoods'
September 23, 2008: Food Retailing, Society & Economics: 'Food Deserts' and Public Health
March 20, 2009: Federal Government Spending Bill Increases WIC Voucher Program Dollars by $1.2 Billion; 21 Percent Increase
May 28, 2008: Las Vegas Market Report: A 'Food Desert' Neighborhood to Get A New Grocery Store; But it's Not A Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market
April 27, 2008: New Study Points to Increasing Urban 'Food Deserts' In North America: Locating Stores in 'Food Deserts' A Part of Fresh & Easy's Strategy
March 7, 2008: Former NBA All-Star and Sacramento Native Kevin Johnson is the Driving Force Behind a Fresh & Easy Market in Sacramento's Oak Park Neighborhood
July 29, 2008: Tesco's Fresh & Easy and San Francisco's Tenderloin Redux: Upcoming Developments Offer First Mover Opportunity For Fresh & Easy or Competitors
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