'Eight Isn't Enough': Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to Open Ninth 'Express' Store Soon in Palos Verdes Estates, California

Companion Story - March 3, 2012: 'Eight Isn't Enough' - New Fresh & Easy Express Store Planned for Bell, California

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is now hiring employees for what will be its ninth Fresh & Easy Express mini-market, at 2201 Palos Verdes Drive West in the Southern California city of Palos Verdes Estates.

The store at Palos Verdes Drive West and Yarmouth Road in Palos Verdes Estates is scheduled to open next month, according to information we have. Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market hasn't announced the store's opening date.

The 3,000 square-foot (selling space) Fresh & Easy Express store - there are currently seven 'Express' format units open and operating, all in Southern California, with an eighth store in Los Angeles' San Pedro neighborhood set to open soon (see here) - is going into the former family-owned Lunada Bay Market grocery store, which closed in August 2011.

All but a small portion of the Lunada Bay Market, pictured above shortly before it closed in August 2011, will house the ninth Fresh & Easy Express grocery market. [Photo credit: Elizabeth Stanley.] Pictured below is the inside of the Fresh & Easy Express store at La Cienega Boulevard and 18th Street, Los Angeles, which was the first of the 'Express' store to open, on November 2, 2011. [Photo credit: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.]

The former Lunada Bay Market building is around 6,000 square-feet, according to planning documents on file at the City Of Palos Verdes Estates' planning department.

Fresh & Easy will use about 4,500 square feet of the space for the 'Express' market. About 3,000 square feet of that space will be the 'Express' store's selling space. The remaining space will be used for the bakery and back room. The remaining space is being offered for lease by a commercial real estate firm.

The Fresh & Easy Express mini-market will be Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's first store in Palos Verdes Estates, which is in Los Angeles County.

Green light for Fresh & Easy Express

Tesco's Fresh & Easy has publicly said its plans with Fresh & Easy Express was to open eight stores as a test, then decide to go forward with additional units based on the performance of the existing eight stores.

However, the grocer is clearly going forward with additional 'Express' units before store number eight opens. The Rancho Palos Verdes store has been in the works for sometime. So has the store in Bell, California.
Additional Fresh & Easy Express stores are set to be opened this year. There are also more units in the planning stages.

The story about the Bell, California location linked at top offers details about why Tesco and its Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market chain are going forward with the micro small-format 'Express' stores, which offer about 2,700 SKUs, including groceries, produce, meats, fresh-prepared foods and non-foods, and small in-store bakeries, in 3,000 square-feet of selling space.

Los Angeles County: Fresh & Easy Express' ground zero

On December 10, 2010, we reported in this story - Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market CEO Tim Mason Says 70 New Stores Possible in Los Angeles Area - that Tim Mason, the CEO of Fresh & Easy and Tesco's deputy CEO and chief marketing officer since March 2011, said Fresh & Easy Neighborhood market could open up to 70 stores in Los Angeles over the next couple years.

Last year Mason repeated this potential strategy in a July 12, 2011 presentation to the Town Hall Los Angeles civic organization, noting the 70 new store potential in the L.A. region. [Suggested reading - July 12, 2011: Tesco in America: A Few Things Tesco Deputy CEO-Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market CEO Tim Mason Might (and Probably Should) Say in His Speech at Town Hall Los Angeles Today.]

Four of the seven Fresh & Easy Express stores opened since November 2011 are in Los Angeles County. Additionally, so is the eighth unit, which is set to open soon at Sixth and Gaffey Streets in Los Angeles' San Pedro district. Further, the cities of Palos Verdes Estates and Bell are also both in Los Angeles County, making seven of the 10 initial 'Express' stores Los Angeles County-located.

The grocery chain also has new standard-format (10,000 square-foot) Fresh & Easy stores opening in Los Angeles County this year, including those listed here.

Bottom line: Los Angeles County is ground zero for Tesco's Fresh & Easy Express format, which is something we said it would be over a year ago.

Look for many more of the mini-markets, along with some regular format Fresh & Easy stores, to pop up in Los Angeles County this year and beyond, assuming Tesco can come close to breaking even with Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market by the end of this fiscal year, which started at the end of February 2012 and runs until the end of February 2013, as CEO Philip Clarke says it will.

Related Stories

[Readers: You can read past stories and analysis focusing on Fresh & Easy Express, beginning with our January 2011 report in which we broke the news Tesco's Fresh & Easy would launch the smaller stores, at this link - Fresh and Easy Express.]

Reader Resources

>Click here for a list of the Fresh & Easy Express store locations.
>Click here to view a list of upcoming Fresh & Easy store openings.
>Click here if you're interested in learning more about the city of Palos Verdes Estates.