Northern California Launch: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Opens Store in Pacifica Today

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market opened its third store in Northern California today, fresh on the heels of opening its first two grocery markets in the region last Wednesday.

The Fresh & Easy store (pictured at top), which opened to a big crowd of customers at 10 a.m this morning, is located in the Pedro Point Shopping Center, at 5550 Coast Highway in Pacifica, which is just a short drive from San Francisco.

Like at all Fresh & Easy store grand openings, today's event at the Pacifica market was kicked off with a ribbon-cutting, followed by a few words by representatives of the Tesco-owned grocery chain and local dignitaries.

Following the ceremonial activities, the doors were opened at 10 a.m. to what was a huge crowd of people waiting to get their first look at the store in Pacifica's Pedro Point neighborhood. Store employees gave the people waiting in line cups of Minestrone soup (a good idea in Pacifica, which is famous for its cold and damp morning fog) and bottled water.

In addition to the crown of shoppers and just plain curious, the United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) union, which has been attempting to organize store-level employees of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market for over three years, had numerous representatives attending today's grand opening of the Pacifica store.

In fact, as you can see in the photograph above taken this morning by a Fresh & Easy Buzz correspondent who attended the grand opening, the UFCW union organizers and Representatives of Tesco's Fresh & Easy - see the players as labeled in the photo - appeared to coexist rather well, despite having very different agendas today.

The UFCW organizers attempted to persuade people attending the opening not to go inside the store because Tesco's Fresh & Easy is non-union. The union representatives also distributed leaflets describing the UFCW's campaign to unionize Fresh & Easy store workers, as they do regularly at the stores. According to our correspondent, very few shoppers attending the grand opening this morning were motivated not to enter the store after interacting with the union organizers.

The UFCW Representatives were also video taping at the grand opening, along with counting the number of shoppers attending the event, as well as counting the number of people who decided not to go inside the store after the union folks interacted with them. [Note: The woman holding the writing pad in her hands (far right) in the photograph at the very top is the UFCW union's "counter."]

Tesco's Fresh & Easy distributed copies of its weekly advertising circular and coupons (a couple for $5-off purchases of $20 or more and one offering a free reusable canvas shopping bag with any $10 purchase) to residents of the Pedro Point neighborhood prior to the stores opening this morning. The ads and coupons seemed to drive many of the shoppers to the store, evidenced by the fact many of those waiting in line were holding the ad flyers and coupons.

A resident of the neighborhood, who is a member of the Pedro Point Community Association, said the store was a "madhouse" when she was there at 10 a.m., saying she left after a while and went home, coming back later in the day to do her shopping.

"Folks were pleased with the prices and some of the selection. I know my friends were disappointed that the emphasis is on the 'easy' and not on the 'fresh'. I think a number of people thought it would be more organic than it is, she said today.

"For those of us who live on the west side of Highway 1 it will be nice to not have to cross the highway for a quart of milk. Some folks seem to think that the store coming in will significantly change their lives. It will change our neighborhood - for better and worse - but it is hard for me to relate to those who think that this is the second coming."

She asked that we not use her name because "Pacifica is a small town and the Pedro Point neighborhood is even smaller." We agreed in order to protect her privacy.

As it does each time it opens a new store, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market donates $1,000 to a local non-profit group. The local beneficiary of the $1,000 donation from the grocer is the Pacifica Historical Society. And it's an easy bet Tesco hopes its Fresh & Easy store will become a part of the city's history.

Another local resident, W. Sims, who attended the grand opening this morning said when asked for an overall impression of the store: "I thought the prices were good. I had researched the specials before I went so I already knew I was going after the New York steak for $4.99pound. We got four steaks for $12.80, Great price. We did purchase two frozen P.F. Changs Meals for $7.99. I will add some rice and have a reasonably priced meal."

Regarding the grand opening today, Sims added this: "I wandered up and down almost all the aisles but more and more people were coming in so we took our stuff and headed for the check out. We will have the fresh&easy tiramisu for dessert tonight. I definitely will go back in a few days when the crowd subsides. I did talk to the women in front and back of me in the line. Both were glad the store was open, and offering unique and reasonable priced groceries.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's road from acquiring store location, which it owns, in the Pedro Point chopping center to opening the store today has been a long and interesting one.

It also happens to be a road Fresh & Easy Buzz has covered and written about extensively. (Perhaps the Pacifica Historical Society, flush with it's $1,000 donation from the grocer, will include our coverage in its archives if Tesco's Fresh & Easy remains in Pacifica long enough to achieve historical significance?)

Therefore, in case you're a history buff - or just like to be able to follow a grocery retailing story from inception to the opening of a store - below are those stories from Fresh & Easy Buzz, starting from the beginning.

Follow the Story: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market in Pacifica

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

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

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

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

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

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

October 9, 2008: Pacifica, CA Mayor Jim Vreeland Says He's Excited to Have Fresh & Easy Store Coming to Pedro Point; Says New Center Will Be One of the Best in Town

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

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

May 15, 2008: Fresh But Never Easy: Tesco's Long But Rapid South-North March in the Nation-State of California.

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

The Fresh & Easy store (pictured above), in the Green Valley Center in Danville, California is set to open March 2, 2011. [Photo credit: Doloros Fox-Ciardelli.]

Tesco's Fresh & Easy in Northern California - 2011

In less than three weeks time, on March 2, Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market will open its first two stores in Northern California, in the San Francisco Bay Area cities of San Jose and Danville.

On January 17, 2011, we offered a preview (including photographs) of the soon-to-be-opened Fresh & Easy market in the Willow Glen Village shopping center, in San Jose, California. [Read the story at: First Look at the Willow Glen-San Jose Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store Set to Open March 2, 2011.]

The second Fresh & Easy store opening on March 2, is in the Green Valley Center, which is at Diablo Road and Interstate 680, in the East Bay Area city of Danville.

The Fresh & Easy sign pictured above recently went up next to the Walgreens sign at the entrance to the Green Valley Center in Danville, California. [Photo credit: Fresh & Easy Review/for Fresh & Easy Buzz.]

Danville is an affluent town. It has one of the highest average incomes in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area, which is home to about seven million people.

Side-by-side. The Fresh & Easy store in the Green Valley Center is next to a Walgreens drug store, as you can see in the photograph above. Locating the small-format (10,000-12,000 square-feet) fresh food and grocery markets close to (although seldom so close) Walgreens and CVS Pharmacy stores has been a strategy of Tesco's since it began opening the Fresh & Easy markets in November 2007. [Photo credit: Fresh & Easy Review/for Fresh & Easy Buzz.]

The Danville Fresh & Easy location is interesting for another reason, however, besides the city's high-income status. That reason: The store is located right next door to an existing Walgreens drug store. In fact, the Walgreens' store and the Fresh & Easy market in the Green Valley Center share the same building. The Walgreens, which opened in October 2009, took about half of the former Albertsons. the Fresh & Easy is in the other half.

What will soon be the Fresh & Easy store in the Danville shopping center was once an Albertsons supermarket, which was closed a numer of years ago because of its small size and its relative under-performance.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy acquired the then-vacant building in the Green Valley Center in January 2008, and has been paying the monthly lease on it since then.

The location could prove to be a good one for Tesco's Fresh & Easy for a few reasons.

First, its the only grocery store in the shopping center, although the Walgreens' does sell a limited assortment of grocery items, including some perishables, but not fresh meats or produce.

Additionally, the store isn't currently one of the Walgreens' units the retailer plans to add fresh foods to as part of its program announced in January of this year, in which it's expanding its 2010 test of offering an assortment of fresh-prepared foods, along with some fresh meats and produce, in a handful of stores in the Chicago metro region and New York City.

Lastly, the population demographics (high-income, high-percentage of college educated residents) and lifestyle (smaller families, busy professionals) indicators of Danville and the neighborhood surrounding the Green Valley Center index fairly high in terms of fresh-prepared foods' consumers. Since fresh-prepared foods are a major aspect of Fresh & Easy's offering, the location will prove to be a good test of the format, in an area where indications are it should do well. The shopping center is not far from the Blackhawk community, where the entry-level price for a home is about $1 million.

As you can see in the photographs, the exterior of the Fresh & Easy market in the shopping center is completed. Additionally, as the photograph below shows, most of the work on the store's interior has been completed.

Inside the store: Most of the shelving, refrigerated cases, checkout stands and other interior fixtures are in-place at the soon-to-be-opened (March 2, 2011) Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market store in Danville, California's Green Valley shopping center. [Photo credit: Fresh & Easy Review/for Fresh & Easy Buzz.]

We will have more on the Green Valley Center-Danville Fresh & Easy store, along with all of the Northern California stores opening in March-April 2011, when it opens. But, like the title says - this is a first look.

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

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.

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.

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.

Fresh & Easy Buzz has reported on and writen extensively about the future Pacifica Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market store. Below is a selection of those stories:

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

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

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

October 9, 2008: Pacifica, CA Mayor Jim Vreeland Says He's Excited to Have Fresh & Easy Store Coming to Pedro Point; Says New Center Will Be One of the Best in Town

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

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

[Editor's Note: The photographs above are copyright of Fresh & Easy Buzz. Publications are free to use the photos as long as they provide a photo credit to Fresh & Easy Buzz, along with a link to the blog.]

[Editor's Note: We began our 'Northern California Market Region Special Report' series in April of this year. It's one of a number of special report series' we've done in Fresh & Easy Buzz over the last three years. Taken as a whole, we think the series offers one of the best up-to-date looks at the Northern California market region, which Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market plans to enter in early 2011, that's currently available. Below are the stories in the series thus far. Click on the title to read the story.]

December 14, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to Open 5800 Third Street 'Flagship' Store in San Francisco Later in 2011 Than Originally Announced

December 7, 2010: Sunflower Farmers Market Confirms Our Report It's Headed to Northern California; Roseville Store to Open April 2011

December 9, 2010: Launching Sunflower Farmers Market Into Northern California is a 'Second Act' of Sorts For Founder-CEO Mike Gilliland

November 30, 2010: DeLano's IGA Markets Closing Five Stores in San Francisco & Marin County; Fairfax, Davis Units to Remain Open (For Now)

November 29, 2010: Veteran Grocer Harley DeLano's 'DeLano IGA Markets' Chain On the Verge of Closure in San Francisco Bay Area

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 8, 2010 - Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's '5800 Third Street' Northern California 'Flagship' Store in San Francisco is Taking Shape

November 5, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Queuing Up Three Additional Stores in Northern California For Early-to-Mid 2011 Openings

November 3, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Plans New Store in Northern Central Valley, California City of Ceres

November 1, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Planning to Build its First Store in Northern California City of Brentwood

October 30, 2010: Raley's Launches New 'Raley's TO GO' Pre-Packaged, Refrigerated Fresh-Prepared Foods Line

October 27, 2010: Save Mart CEO Bob Piccinini Poised to Make it to the 'Bigs' as Member of Golden State Warriors' Ownership Group

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

September 22, 2010: Sunflower Makes Three: Sunflower Farmers Market's First Northern California Store Will Be in Roseville

September 22, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Planning A New, Third Store in San Jose, California

September 22, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Plans to Open Two Additional Stores in Northern California in Early 2011

September 21, 2010: A Look Inside Whole Foods Market's Newest Store, A Mall Location in Santa Rosa, California

September 20, 2010: About Today's Walmart Stores, Inc. Smaller Stores Media Frenzy: We Scooped it On July 6, 2010

September 19, 2010: Whole Foods Market Gives Itself A 30th Birthday Present: 299th Store Opens This Week in Santa Rosa, California

September 18, 2010: Keep On Truckin' - Whole Foods Market Celebrates 30 Years This Weekend

September 14, 2010: Eight Plus One: Napa Unit Added to Eight Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Opening in Northern CA in Early 2011

September 5, 2010: BevMo Chain Ends Full Time Employment For Store Workers; They Say No Way and Join With UFCW Union to Demand 'A Better BevMo'

September 3, 2010: How the California Grocers Association and its Members Can Snatch Victory From the Jaws of the Defeat of California's Plastic Bag Ban

August 25, 2010: Going Rural: New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Store Planned for Sutter Creek in Northern California

August 23, 2010: Hybrid 'Good Eats' Market-Cafe From Raley's CEO Michael Teel & Company Opens Today in Sacramento CA

August 22, 2010: The Insider: 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 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

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

[Also: click here , here and here for a selection of past stories on Fresh & Easy and Northern Calfornia.]

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.

Pacifica Riptide & Fresh & Easy Buzz Join Together to Offer Pacifica, California Citizen Opinions On the Fresh & Easy Store Coming to the City

On Tuesday, October 7, Fresh & Easy Buzz wrote and published this piece,"Fresh & Easy Corporate Reps to Meet With Pedro Point Pacifica, CA Neighborhood Residents to Address Concerns Over Store to Open in 2009," about a meeting scheduled on Thursday, October 9 between representatives of Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market and members of Pacifica, California's Pedro Point neighborhood. The meeting was sponsored by the Pedro Point Community Association.

A Fresh & Easy grocery market, pictured at the top of the page, is currently being built (located in a vacant building) in a new shopping center in Pacifica's Pedro Point neighborhood. The Fresh & Easy market is scheduled to open in 2009. [ In the photograph above is Pacifica Mayor Jim Vreeland looking over the Fresh & Easy store being built in the city. Mayor Vreeland happens to live in the Pedro Point neighborhood where the store will open in 2009.] [Photo credit: Pacifica Tribune.]

The meeting between the members of the Pedro Point Community Association and a representative of Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market was held on Thursday evening, October 9, as we previously reported. It was held at the Pedro Point Firehouse, a historic building in the city which is maintained by the neighborhood association.

John Maybury, the publisher and editor of the local, Pacifica-based, award-winning community Web site Pacifica Riptide.com, was kind enough to create a post for Fresh & Easy Buzz on the community Web site, asking residents of the coastal city located on the San Francisco Bay Area Peninsula about 12 miles from San Francisco to offer their comments about the small-format, convenience-oriented Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market grocery and fresh foods store coming to their city of about 40,000, as a follow up to our October 7 story about the meeting between the Pedro Point residents and Fresh & Easy representatives.

Below is the post from the Pacifica Riptide

Fresh & Easy Buzz is a blog with a wide readership: Fresh & Easy execs, Tesco execs in the U.K., Fresh & Easy store workers, people in the food and grocery industry globally, and consumers in general all over. Pacifica Riptide has been sharing local news with Buzz about Pacifica's new Fresh & Easy store now under construction in Pedro Point shopping center, so we would like to hear from you about the store, your impressions, your questions, etc. --John Maybury

Click here to read the current comments from residents of Pacifica, California at the Fresh & Easy Buzz Post at the Pacifica Riptide about the new Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market store coming to their city in 2009.

We thank John Maybury, the Pacifica Riptide, and the residents of Pacifica.

The homepage address of the Pacifica Riptide is: http://www.pacificariptide.com

Pacifica, CA Mayor Jim Vreeland Says He's Excited to Have Fresh & Easy Store Coming to Pedro Point; Says New Center Will Be One of the Best in Town

Pacifica, California Mayor Jim Vreeland checks out the progress on the remodeled building set to become a Fresh & Easy grocery store in the new shopping center in the city's Pedro Point neighborhood. (Photo Credit: Jane Northrup, Pacifica Tribune.)

On Tuesday, October 7 we reported in this story, "Fresh & Easy Corporate Reps to Meet With Pedro Point Pacifica, CA Neighborhood Residents to Address Concerns Over Store to Open in 2009," about a meeting to be held (and it was) last night between residents of the San Francisco Bay Area city of Pacifica's Pedro Point neighborhood and one or more representatives of Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market. The grocery chain is building a store in a new small shopping center in the neighborhood as part of its move into Northern California in 2009. The Fresh & Easy store is one of three businesses going into a remodeled building.

The meeting was requested by the Pedro Point Community Association which is a group comprised of residents of that neighborhood in the city of about 40,000 located about 12 miles from San Francisco on the pacific coastline.

The meeting was held last night at the Point Pedro Firehouse, which is a historic building maintained by the Pedro Point Community Organization.

Representing Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market was Mark Warden, who is a spokesman for the company. Since we have never heard of Mr. Warden, we contacted Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market headquarters in El Segundo, (Southern) California asking what his title with the company is. We were told by an employee at the Fresh & Easy offices that he isn't a Tesco Fresh & Easy corporate employee. Rather, that he works for a public relation's firm retained by Tesco's Fresh & Easy.

Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's chief corporate spokesperson Branden Wonnacott also works for a Tesco Fresh & Easy retained public relations firm, Washington D.C.-based APCO Worldwide, which has a California office in Sacramento.

Fresh & Easy Buzz is currently working on a piece about last night's meeting between the Point Pedro neighborhood residents and the Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market spokesperson.

This morning's edition of the Pacifica Tribune, a local newspaper in the city, just happens to have a story about Fresh & Easy's Pacifica store and the new development it is located in. The Tribune story features an interview with the city's mayor, Jim Vreeland, who is looking forward to Fresh & Easy and the other businesses opening in the center next year.

In the story, Mayor Vreeland talks about the economic boost he believes the $7 million dollar center will bring to Pacifica, along with discussing how the project has and will in his view greatly improved the Pedro Point neighborhood.

There's no mention in this morning's story in the local Pacifica newspaper about last night's meeting between the Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market spokesperson and the Pedro Point neighborhood residents however, accept for the one sentence note below in italics at the bottom of the story: The Pedro Point Community Association has engaged Mark Warden, a spokesperson from Fresh & Easy, to speak at its meeting Thursday, Oct. 9 at 7:30 p.m. at the Pedro Point Firehouse, 1227 Danmann Ave. Perhaps the story was filed before the paper could attend, cover and report on last night's meeting?

Additionally, the city's mayor doesn't mention anything at all in the story about the numerous concerns those residents who live in the Pedro Point neighborhood have about certain aspects of the Fresh & Easy store, along with their numerous concerns about the shopping center in general. It would appear If he was asked about the neighborhood resident's concerns, he either didn't answer or his answers didn't appear in the story this morning. We have no idea though if he was asked by the paper about the neighborhood resident's concerns or the meeting last night. Mayor Vreeland lives in the Pedro Point neighborhood.

At the top of the neighborhood resident's concern list includes the increased traffic congestion some say will come when the new center and the Fresh & Easy store opens. Some members of the Pedro Point Community Association want the city and Fresh & Easy to improve the traffic conditions near the center in the primarily residential neighborhood.

Some neighborhood residents have additional concerns, as we reported here in Tuesday's story, which they feel should be of interest to both the mayor and Tesco's Fresh & Easy.

None of the neighborhood residents have told Fresh & Easy Buzz they are against the center or the Fresh & Easy store being built in it their neighborhood. Rather they say they have numerous concerns, which are detailed in our October 7 story.

Below is the story from this morning's Pacifica Tribune. We will be publishing our piece on last night's meeting between the Pedro Point neighborhood residents and the spokesperson for Fresh & Easy a bit later.

Fresh & Easy coming to Pedro Point
By Jane Northrop STAFF WRITER
10/09/2008

The construction underway at the Pedro Point Shopping Center represents a vast improvement to the property and will allow a Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to move in as the key tenant.

Smaller than a supermarket, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets is a chain of, so far, 82 markets in Southern California, Arizona and Nevada in the United States. It is a subsidiary of Tesco, a large retailer in Britain. The stores offer staples, gourmet items, prepared meals and organic selections among the many products and produce it stocks.

Fresh & Easy anticipates moving into Pedro Point sometime in 2009.

"We're looking forward to the next steps and that particular location," said Fresh & Easy press spokesman Brendan Wonnacott.

The construction improved a portion of the Pedro Point Shopping Center owned by SHP Pacifica LLC. The remainder belongs to a different owner.

Major Jim Vreeland toured the construction site with Deed Whitney, managing partner of Whitney Partnerships, who is developing the site on behalf of the property owner. Also present were representatives from The Bergman Companies, the construction, architectural and design and development firm that is assisting Fresh & Easy.

"This is going to be one of the best commercial spaces in town," Vreeland said, noting the project represents an investment in excess of $7 million in Pacifica. "The city is thrilled with the $7 million investment in town and we're really excited to have Fresh & Easy in a year."

Whitney said the goal for the project is to attain a silver certification in the LEED green building standards.

"We've made a significant investment bringing this building up to date. It is the only project in Pacifica currently registered under the U.S. LEED program for green building. We've been environmentally conscious. We're happy with the results. It exceeded our expectations," Whitney said.

The building has been remodeled for three tenants, with Fresh & Easy taking up the biggest space. The other two tenants have not yet been determined, Whitney said, but his firm has been receiving numerous phone calls from interested parties.

There might be restrictions on a full-service restaurant tenant, as that use would require applying to the city for a variance for parking. The parking was designed for a commercial operation, but an ice cream shop or a coffee shop would be suitable. The sidewalks have been widened. There is an opportunity for outdoor seating for the corner tenant.

The work on the building is substantially complete, with only parking lot work remaining, Whitney said. He expects to turn it over to Fresh & Easy within a couple of weeks. Fresh & Easy will then build out the interior space to suit its needs.

The Pedro Point Community Association has engaged Mark Warden, a spokesperson from Fresh & Easy, to speak at its meeting Thursday, Oct. 9 at 7:30 p.m. at the Pedro Point Firehouse, 1227 Danmann Ave.

Fresh & Easy Corporate Reps to Meet With Pedro Point Pacifica, CA Neighborhood Residents to Address Concerns Over Store to Open in 2009

Pictured above is Pacifica's Linda Mar Beach, with the Pedro Point community overlooking it on the cliff above. Not a bad view to have from the Fresh & Easy grocery market set to open in the coastside neighborhood next year.

Upcoming New Markets News: Northern California - Pacifica, San Francisco Bay Area

Representatives of Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market are scheduled to meet with members of the Pedro Point Community Association, a neighborhood group from Pacifica's Pedro Point neighborhood, at 7:30pm on Thursday, October 9 at the Pedro Point Firehouse at 1227 Danmann in the city to discuss concerns residents have about the Fresh & Easy grocery market which will be the retail anchor in a new shopping center being constructed in the neighborhood of about 300 households.

Fresh & Easy Buzz first reported Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's plans to locate a store in Pacifica at 5550 Coast Highway in this June 24 piece," 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." In fact some of the Pedro Point neighborhood residents told us via an email that reading our piece was how they learned what was going to go into the center which was breaking ground at the time.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has yet to publicly confirm the Pacifica store as one of its future San Francisco Bay Area sites, although as we reported there's a liquor license application from Fresh & Easy on file for the store location with the state of California, as well as a paper copy of the application on the store site. Additionally the city of Pacifica has confirmed the Fresh & Easy store location at the site -- and of course company representatives are meeting with neighborhood residents on Thursday evening.

Pacifica is a coastal community located on the peninsula just a few miles south of San Francisco. It has a current population of about 38,000. The median home price in the city is about $668,000. Believe it or not, Pacifica is considered one of the more affordable cities to live in on the Bay Area peninsula despite the median housing number. [Click here to view some additional statistics and data about Pacifica.]

Pedro Point residents' concerns

Residents of the neighborhood and members of the Pedro Point Community Association have a number of concerns about the Fresh & Easy store at the shopping center location, although most say they welcome a grocery store in the neighborhood since the only supermarket on their end (south) of town is a single Safeway store.

Among the chief concerns Pedro Point residents have about the Fresh & Easy store in the neighborhood are the increased traffic it will bring to the primarily residential neighborhood, the store's design and the non-union status of Fresh & Easy.

Here's what one leader of the neighborhood group says about the potential traffic problems the Fresh & Easy store and other businesses in the new center could cause, along with the store's design and the union/non-union issue:

"I don't know how familiar you are with our geography here, but the (Fresh & Easy) location is in a very small shopping center at the far end of town, right before you enter Devil's Slide and head south down the coast. The Devil's Slide tunnel will be finished in a few years, which will have a significant impact on commuting in this area. I assume they (Fresh & Easy) are counting on folks coming north from El Granada and Half Moon Bay to shop here, or at least stopping off on their way home from work. Many coastal residents already do that at Safeway.

"We (Pedro Point neighborhood residents) are concerned about increased vehicular traffic. The (Fresh & Easy) parking lot needs to be re-designed as the current traffic flow is illogical and dangerous. Even with improvements in design, we are concerned about the traffic impact as there is only one street into and out of our neighborhood and the shopping center opens on to it. We also have concerns about ensuring parking for the local businesses that will be remaining in the center. And of course we are concerned with the design of the store - I wasn't particularly impressed with the pictures I looked at of the store open in southern California this week.

"And I have concerns about the union stance being taken by the corporation, though I can't speak for others on this issue."

In terms of the traffic issue, one member of the Pedro Point neighborhood group says she plans to ask the Fresh & Easy representatives at the October 9 meeting for a plan from them detailing the ways they will improve parking at the store site as well as the traffic congestion she says will come from the store opening in the neighborhood.

Another key issue and concern neighborhood residents say they have about Fresh & Easy is its environmental credentials. Specifically a number of neighborhood residents are concerned about Fresh & Easy's policy of offering only free plastic grocery bags rather than the option of paper or plastic. They also are concerned about the use of plastic packaging for most of the fresh produce items (most all produce at Fresh & Easy is pre-packaged in plastic tubs or bags) and Styrofoam packaging for food service and meat merchandising uses.

The 'Green' Bay Area

Green or pro-environmental retailing issues are at the top of the list of many Bay Area consumers. The region was one of the first in the U.S. to initiate curbside recycling programs in the 1970's, for example. It's also home to many of America's top environmental organizations and activist groups including the Sierra Club, Nature Conservancy and others.

Bay Area consumers get "green." Survey after survey lists it right at the top of the list in terms of what's important to them when it comes to choosing where they shop for groceries and other goods. Bay Area supermarket chains and independents are among the "greenest" retailers in the nation, due in no small part to the demands of the region's consumers to be that way.

Numerous Bay Area cities are passing their own environmental laws as well. San Francisco has banned the use of plastic grocery bags in food stores over 10,000 square feet, for example. It's also phasing out the use of certain plastic and foam containers in food stores.

Oakland passed a ban on the plastic bags at supermarkets as well. But it's been overturned by a court based on a plastics industry lawsuit. The Oakland City Council is debating introducing new legislation on the issue.

Palo Alto recently passed a per-bag fee at supermarkets law on the single-use plastic bags. Emeryville a city near Berkeley is considering a ban as well, as are a number of other Bay Area cities debating ban and fee laws.

Since Tesco's Fresh & Easy stores offer only free plastic grocery bags at the stores and not the option of free paper, we believe if it carries this policy into the Bay Area it will be in for lots of fights from not only environmental and community groups but from city governments as well.

And of course Fresh & Easy will have to eliminate the plastic bags in San Francisco, maybe in Oakland, charge for them if it opens a store in Palo Alto and face other cities in the region that are sure to enact bans and per-bag fees sooner rather than later.

This is particularly true because a proposed California state law that would have charged shoppers in all California cities and counties 15 -to- 25 cents per plastic or paper grocery bag in supermarkets failed to come up for a vote in the California Legislature before the term was over because of the near three month long failure to pass a state budget. Finally doing so at the very end of the session took up all the effort and time of the Legislature. Therefore bills like the statewide bag-fee legislation and many others were just dropped and not voted on.

Additional concerns

Another key concern the Pedro Point neighborhood residents say they have involves the sale of alcoholic beverages at the Fresh & Easy store at night, or late at night.

How and what Fresh & Easy will do to control trash and litter at and near the store also is a concern neighborhood residents plan to take up with Fresh & Easy representatives at the Thursday night meeting. The Pedro Point neighborhood is considered the most affluent part of the city and its residents say they take great pride in keeping it clean and constantly improving it, which is one reason they started the Pedro Point Community Association.

Better late than never

A representative of the neighborhood group told Fresh & Easy Buzz they first began trying to get someone from Fresh & Easy to speak to the community association in early July of this year.

"After some runaround, we've finally been given the name of someone named Scott Whitney at Fresh & Easy and we've e-mailed him to ask him to come speak to us about the store," the Pedro Point Community Association spokesperson told us on July 17, nearly three months ago. It was some time before they heard back the association member says. The neighborhood group had requested and were hoping to have a representative from Fresh & Easy meet with the neighborhood group this summer rather than on October 9.

Food and grocery retailing in Pacifica

The Safeway supermarket is the only chain store in Pacifica. In addition to the Safeway there's a longtime independent supermarket, Food Town.

Pacifica Farmers Market is a popular independently-owned fresh produce and natural foods store in town. It features a large selection of fresh fruits and vegetables, including organics, along with a selection of shelf-stable and perishable natural and organic food and grocery products. There's also Sun Valley, which is another independent natural foods store.

Nearby Half Moon Bay also has a Safeway supermarket, along with a brand new 20,000 square foot New Leaf Community Market natural foods supermarket. New Leaf is a local, multi-store natural foods retailer based in Santa Cruz, California. Whole Foods Market, Inc. also is in the process of building a natural foods supermarket in Half Moon Bay, which will be its first in the city. There's lots of cross-shopping by consumers between the two nearby cities.

Pacifica also is located in a highly dense and urbanized region on the San Francisco peninsula. From Pacifica south about 60 miles to San Jose there's city after city -- Burlingame, San Mateo, Mountain View, Menlo Park, Palo Alto and through Silicon Valley to San Jose. This urban megalopolis of over 2 million residents (the nine county Bay Area has 7 million residents) is filled with supermarkets, natural foods stores and specialty markets.

Most residents of Pacifica, which is primarily a residential city, work outside the city, generally either somewhere on the peninsula or in San Francisco which is only about 12 miles away. As a result of this geographical and occupation fact, most residents are commuters who have different shopping patterns than one would expect is the case with consumers in a less urban region.

They often shop at supermarkets and natural foods stores near where they work, picking up groceries there on the way home to Pacifica.

Additionally, there's such a variety of different stores and formats in the region -- ranging from Costco and numerous chain supermarkets to Whole Foods Market stores, produce markets, farmers markets, upscale independents and specialty stores -- that Bay Area residents don't think twice about driving a few miles from the town they live in to multi-store and multi-format food and grocery shop. This is something any new food retailing entrant to the Bay Area grocery market needs to understand if it wants to succeed.

There's a niche in Pacifica for a convenience-oriented, small-format grocery and fresh foods store like Tesco's Fresh & Easy or a Trader Joe's though in our analysis, especially in the southern part of Pacifica where the Pedro Point Neighborhood is located.

But that neighborhood also has become one of the most desirable in the small coastal city, which reinforces the traffic congestion concerns residents have about the new center and the Fresh & Easy store.

Working cooperatively with neighborhood residents will be key to a successful Fresh & Easy store in Pacifica For Tesco's Fresh & Easy. It's a small, close-knit neighborhood and community that believes strongly in localism.

And Tesco's Fresh & Easy better get used to having highly-involved neighborhood groups as part of its Bay Area business model as it makes its entry into Northern California, and especially into the Bay Area.

Environmental, union and other issues and concerns all are at a higher level in the Bay Area than anywhere else in the Western U.S. This includes Arizona and Nevada -- and even Southern California -- the three markets where Tesco currently operates its 90 Fresh & Easy grocery stores in.

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

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market USA has inked a deal for another new store location in Northern California's San Francisco Bay Area even before the small-format grocer's first store has opened in the region.

Fresh & Easy Buzz has learned from the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control that Tesco has applied for an off-sale beer and wine license for a new Fresh & Easy store at 5550 Coast Highway in the San Mateo County city of Pacifica, which is just 12 miles south of San Francisco (and five miles from San Francisco International Airport) on the coastal peninsula. [Read and learn more about Pacifica here.]

The application, filed by Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, Inc., which is Tesco's U.S. corporate entity for its Fresh & Easy combination basic grocery and fresh foods markets, is still pending approval by the California ABC.

But that's merely a procedural formality generally. Unlike obtaining licenses for the off-sale retailing of hard liquor in California, obtaining an off-sale beer and wine license in the state is normally a matter of applying and paying a fee for retailers, except in situations where a particular city or neighborhood objects to having another store which sells beer and wine. In those cases, an appeal process can delay a retailer from obtaining the license, as well as even having it denied in some instances.

The Fresh & Easy store at 5550 Coast Highway is part of a new shopping center currently being developed in Pacifica, according to the city mayor's office. A city spokesperson said the city and its Chamber of Commerce have been trying to lure additional food retailers to the coastal city for some time, and were pleased Tesco is locating one of its small-format Fresh & Easy grocery markets in the city.

The Pacifica store will be Tesco's first Fresh & Easy grocery market to be located in San Mateo County. Thus far, the retailer has confirmed 18 San Francisco Bay Area locations for its Fresh & Easy small-format, convenience-oriented grocery stores.

In addition, Fresh & Easy Buzz has discovered two other planned locations, both in the East Bay Area city of Vallejo, in addition to this latest store site in Pacifica.

That brings the total number of Fresh & Easy combination basic grocery and fresh foods markets to 21 to date for the San Francisco Bay Area.

Tesco plans to open its first Bay Area stores at the earliest at the end of this year. However, it's most likley the first stores in the region won't start opening until early 2009.

Here is a list of the 18 San Francisco Bay Fresh & Easy store locations confirmed thus far by Tesco:

>Antioch: Somersville & Buchanan roads; Lone Tree & Golf Course
>Concord: Clayton & Ygnacio Valley roads
>Danville: Diablo Road & Interstate 680
>Fairfield: Beck Avenue & West Texas Street
>Hayward: Mission Boulevard & Rousseau Street; A Street & Hesperian Boulevard
>Mountain View: Middlefield Road & Rengstorff Avenue
>Napa: Jefferson Street & Imola Avenue
>Oakland: 73rd & Bancroft avenues
>Oakley: Laurel Road & Ohara Avenue
>San Francisco: Third Street & Carroll Avenue; Silver Avenue & Goettingen Street
>San Jose: Bird & Minnesota avenues; Almaden Road & Curtner Avenue
>Sunnyvale: Tasman Drive & Fair Oaks Avenue
>Vallejo: Oakwood Avenue & Springs Road
>Walnut Creek: Ygnacio Valley Road & San Carlos Drive

Read here about the two additional Fresh & Easy grocery store locations, both in Vallejo, that Fresh & Easy Buzz has discovered, along with this new store location in Pacifica.

With 21 Fresh & Easy store locations locked-up in the San Francisco Bay Area--and more to come--before even the first store is opened, Tesco is demonstrating it plans to be a serious food and grocery retailing player in the nine county, seven million resident-strong region.

As we regularly write on Fresh & Easy Buzz, Tesco's retail store strategy with its Fresh & Easy grocery markets is all about "critical mass"--opening stores within about two miles of each other in the market regions it picks to enter, like it's doing currently in Southern California, the Metropolitan Las Vegas, Nevada region, and in the Phoenix, Arizona Metropolitan market.

The strategy is no different for the upcoming new San Francisco Bay Area Market. That strategy also includes opening a thus far confirmed 19 stores in the Sacramento region, which is connected by major roads to the Bay Area. It's about a two hour drive from San Francisco to Sacramento, for example. Further, the closest Bay Area county is only about a 40-minute drive from Sacramento.

Under this "critical mass" retail store strategy--think Starbucks for coffee retailing and Rite Aid and Walgreens in drug retailing for example--Tesco will be locating more stores in both the Bay Area and Sacramento regions of Northern California. In fact, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market representatives are currently out in the markets negotiating additional leases at present. You will read about those new store locations here first.

Note: For a Chronology of various reports, stories and analysis Fresh & Easy Buzz has written about Tesco Fresh & Easy's march from Southern California to Northern California, read this piece, "Fresh But Never Easy: Tesco's Long But Rapid South-North March in the Nation-State of California."