Showing posts with label new store confirmations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new store confirmations. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to Open 20-Plus New Stores in Early 2012 - We Have What's Not in the Press Release


Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market sent out a press release today in which it announced it's hiring for more than 600 jobs for over 20 new stores it plans to open from January-March 2012. You can view the release .

In the press release, which you can view here, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market listed 22 cities - 21 in California and Las Vegas, Nevada - where the 20-plus new stores will be located. But the Tesco-owned grocery chain didn't list the addresses of those 20-plus stores in the 22 cities.

But never fear, earlier this month we published a list (at the top-left of the blog) of 26 stores in California that Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is currently preparing for early 2012 openings, and has started hiring employees for.

In addition, we included six locations in Las Vegas that Fresh & Easy has been planning to open for a number of years but hasn't, instead closing six stores there a year ago this month. (See the store closing list at the top of the blog for the locations.)

As we note in the list, we don't suspect Fresh & Easy to open more than a handful of the six units in Las Vegas in the January-March 2012 time period. But, as the grocer noted in the press release today, it does plan to open one or more new store in Las Vegas in early 2012.

Below are the specific locations of the 26 stores Fresh & Easy currently plans to open in early 2012. There could be others coming up, and a couple might not make the cut by the end of March for currently unforeseen reasons. But we've identified the units using a variety of sources in our reporting, along with using various research tools.

To see the Las Vegas addresses, go here: Planned F&E Openings Jan-March 2012.

You'll see numerous publications write about Fresh & Easy's plans, announced today in its press release, but this is the only place you are going to obtain the specific locations - at least for a little while.

You can click here for Fresh & Easy's press release so that you can match up the cities listed in it with the addresses and cities listed below.

Southern California

1. Laguna Niguel - Crown Valley Parkway and Golden
2. Hermosa Beach - Pacific Coast Highway And 8th Street
3. Chula Vista - 3rd Avenue and J Street
4. Burbank - Victory Boulevard and Buena Vista
5. Santee - Mission Gorge and Cuyamaca
6. Torrance - Hathorn Boulevard and Carson Street
7. Costa Mesa - Harbor Boulevard and Gisler Avenue
8. Los Angeles - Figueroa Street and Jefferson Boulevard
9. Los Angeles - Canyon Avenue and Sherman
10. Los Alimitos - Valley View Street and Lampson Avenue
11. Moorpark - Los Angeles and Moorpark
12. Granada Hills - Balboa Boulevard and Millwood
13. Santa Barbara - Downtown: 336 North Milpas Street

Central California Coast

14. San Luis Obispo - South Street and Broad Street

Northern California

South Coast

15. Monterey - 2020 Del Monte Avenue

San Francisco Bay Area

16. Brentwood - Balfour Road and Fairview Avenue
17. San Francisco - Silver and Goettinggen
18. Mountain View - North Rengstorft and Middlefield Road
19. Antioch - Lone Tree Way and Gold Course Drive
20. San Jose - Holger and First Street (Downtown San Jose near Safeway's 'The Market' store)

Sacramento Region

21. Sacramento - 34th Street and Broadway
22. Sacramento - Watt Avenue & El Camino Avenue
23. Sacramento - Mack Road and Franklin Boulevard
24. Lincoln - Lincoln and Sterling Road
25. Elk Grove - Elk Grove Florin Road and Calvine Road
26. Folsom - East Natoma Street and Blue Ravine Road

We will be reporting on and writing about Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's early 2012 new store plans extensively in the coming days, weeks and months. But there are a few takeaways we want to leave you with from our specific location list above and Fresh & Easy's announcement today.

First, the four Southern California stores in italics in our list above - Laguna Niguel, Hermosa Beach, Burbank and Los Angeles - are Fresh & Easy Express units.

The first 'Express' store, at La Cienega Boulevard and 18th Street in Los Angeles, opened November 2. [See - November 2, 2011: Open in Los Angeles: A Look at the First 'Fresh & Easy Express' Store; and  November 1, 2011: Analysis: Tesco Opens First 'Fresh & Easy Express' Store Tomorrow in Los Angeles ... So What ... ?

Also key is the fact that Fresh & Easy will be intering three new market regions when it opens the stores in San Luis Obispo (Central Coast), Monterey (Northern California's South Coast) and Sacramento. We will be writing more about this development in an upcoming story.

Lastly, there are currently 184 Fresh & Easy markets. Tesco CEO Philip Clarke has said the United Kingdom-based retailer needs 300 Fresh & Easy units open and operating by February 2013 in order to fit with his strategy of breaking even with Fresh & Easy by the end of the 2012/13 fiscal year, which is over in February 2013, 16 months from now.

If Fresh & Easy opens 30 new stores (we will error on the high side to be more than fair) by the end of March 2012 - for a total at that time of 214 units - it will need to open 86 stores from April 2012- February 2013, an 11 month period, in order to get to Clarke's magic 300 units, give or take a handful of course.

It's an achievable task - but neither easy nor in many cases advisable. Tesco has opened under 50 new stores so far in 2011, for example.

The 600-plus new jobs Fresh & Easy says its hiring for, all but a handful in California, is good news for the Golden State, which still has the second-highest jobless (over 12%) rate in the U.S. The highest:  Ironically ... it's Nevada, at 14%-plus.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Confirms Our October Reports On 10 New Stores Opening in Early 2011


Southern California Market Region Report: New Stores

On October 17, Fresh & Easy Buzz broke the news that Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market plans to open 10 new stores in Southern California beginning in early January 2011. [See - October 17, 2010: No Additional New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Set to Open This Year; Ten New Units Planned For January 2011.]

We followed our October 17 report up a week later, naming the 10 cities in Southern California where the 10 new Fresh & Easy stores will be located, and reporting the 10 stores are set to open in the January-February 2011 time period. [See - October 25, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market to Open 10 New Stores in 10 Southern California Cities in January-February 2011.]

As we correctly reported on October 27, the 10 Southern California cities are: Lake Forest, Camarillo, El Cajon, Ventura, San Dimas, Walnut Park, Oceanside, Long Beach, Costa Mesa and San Diego.

Today, Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market confirmed our reports, announcing the addresses of the 10 stores and the dates when it plans to open the locations.

Below are the store addresses and opening dates:

January 12
• 2nd Street & Madison Avenue - El Cajon

February 3
• Arneill Road & Las Posas Road - Camarillo
• Bonita Avenue & San Dimas Canyon Road - San Dimas

February 9
• El Toro Road & Trabuco Road - Lake Forest
• Newport Boulevard & Harbor Boulevard - Costa Mesa
• Camino Del Norte & Dove Canyon Road - San Diego

February 16
• Oceanside Boulevard & Vine Street - Oceanside
• Alameda Street & Florence Avenue - Walnut Park
• Seaward Avenue & Thompson Boulevard - Ventura

March 30
• Atlantic Avenue & 33rd Street - Long Beach

As you can see above, one store, the unit in Long Beach, has a March 30, 2011 opening date. As we always note in such stories in Fresh & Easy Buzz, new store opening dates are fluid and dynamic at Tesco's Fresh & Easy. The other nine stores are set to open within the January-February 23 time-frame however.

In our October 17, 2010 story we also reported that Tesco's Fresh & Easy had decided not to open any additional new stores for the remainder of 2010. The grocer's announcement today about the early 2011 store openings confirms our report. It wouldn't announce 2011 store openings if it was planning any additional 2010 new store openings.

The last new stores Tesco's Fresh & Easy opened were in September of this year. [See - July 14, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Confirms Our June 25 Report it Will Open Nine New Stores in September 2010.]

[For related reading on the September 2010 new store openings, also see - September 22, 2010: California Dreamin': Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, Whole Foods Market Combined Open a Total of Four Stores Today in California and September 21, 2010:Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market and Walmart Create A September New Grocery Store Rain Storm in Oceanside, California. Plus - September 15, 2010: Two New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Open in Fresno, California Region Today; September 8, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Hits (and Breaks) the 100-Store Mark in California With Today's Openings; and September 7, 2010: 'Big Bang' September: First Four of Nine New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Opening on September 8.]

Tesco currently has 155 Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market fresh food and grocery stores in California, Metropolitan Las Vegas, Nevada and Metro Phoenix, Arizona.

The 155-store number is down from 168 units, the result of the closing by Tesco of 13 poor-performing Fresh & Easy Markets. [See - November 2, 2010: Closure of 13 Stores Brings Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's Store-Count to 155 Units. There's a breakdown of the 155 stores by market region in the November 2 linked story.]

Once the 10 new stores are opened by the end of the first quarter of 2011, Tesco will have 102 Fresh & Easy markets in Southern California.

In addition to the planned first quarter 2011 openings of the 10 new stores detailed above, Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood market plans also to open its first batch of stores, 11 thus far based on our reporting, in the first quarter of next year. [See - September 22, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Plans to Open Two Additional Stores in Northern California in Early 2011. Also see the other linked stories at the piece.]

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Plans to Open Two Additional Stores in Northern California in Early 2011

Breaking Buzz
Northern California Market Special Report

On September 14, Fresh & Easy Buzz reported that Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has added an additional Northern California store, at Jefferson Street and Imola in Napa, California, to the list of the first batch of Fresh & Easy grocery markets it plans to open in early 2011, making for a total of nine stores.

Read our report here: Eight Plus One: Napa Unit Added to Eight Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Opening in Northern CA in Early 2011

We've now learned Tesco's Fresh & Easy has added two additional stores, all in the San Francisco Bay Area, to that early 2011 opening list. The stores and their locations are:

>San Francisco:
32nd Avenue and Clement (Click here to learn more and view a floor plan of the store.)

>Sunnyvale:
Tasman Drive and Fair Oaks Avenue

The addition of the three stores brings the number of Fresh & Easy stores slated for an early 2011 opening to 11 so far.

Fresh & Easy plans to the two added stores in early 2001, along with the initial batch of eight. units. But, along with the Napa store, the two latest additions might not be opened until the second quarter of 2011, depending on readiness and other issues.

Six of the initial batch of eight stores are in the San Francisco Bay Area. One unit is in Vacaville, which is between the Bay Area and Sacramento. The other Fresh & Easy store set to open in early 2001 is in Modesto, which is in the Northern Central/San Joaquin Valley.

Those original eight stores and their locations 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 three additional stores are:

>Napa: Jefferson Street & Imola Avenue
>San Francisco: 32nd Avenue and Clement
>Sunnyvale: Tasman Drive and Fair Oaks Avenue

More to come.

Related Stories:

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.'

Our 2010 'Northern California Market Special Report' series

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 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

ugust 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

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

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

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Confirms Our June 25 Report it Will Open Nine New Stores in September 2010


New Store Openings

On June 25, 2010 we reported in this story - A Four Month Pause: No New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Set to Open Until September 2010 - that Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market would open at least nine, and potentially as many as 10, new stores in September 2010. We also reported the grocer wouldn't open any new stores in either July or August, which it won't.

Below are the key paragraphs from our June 25, 2010 report:

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market currently has no plans to open any new stores in either July or August, Fresh & Easy Buzz has learned. Our source information is strong enough on this that if Fresh & Easy were to open a store, say in August, it will be because the grocer decided to do so after today.

The next batch of new Fresh & Easy stores will likely open in September 2010, according to our information. Look for as many as 9-10 new store openings in September.

Today Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market issued a press release in which it announced it will open nine new stores in September. No new Fresh & Easy stores will open this month or in August.

The dates of the nine new store openings and the store locations are:

September 8th

>Hubbard St. & Gladstone Ave. Sylmar, Southern California
>Rosemead Blvd. & Valley Blvd. Rosemead, Southern California
>Rose Ave. & Gonzales Rd. Oxnard, Southern California Coast
>Cherry Ave. & 25th St. Signal Hill, Southern California

September 15th

>Cedar Ave. & Shields Ave. Fresno, California (Central Valley)
>Herndon Ave. & Fowler Ave. Clovis, California (Central Valley)

September 22nd

>32nd St. & University Ave. San Diego, California
>River Rd. & College Blvd. Oceanside, California
>College Blvd. & Oceanside Blvd. Oceanside, California

There are currently 159 Fresh & Easy fresh food and grocery stores located in California (Southern and the Central Valley), southern Nevada and Metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona.

Ninety eight of the current 159 Fresh & Easy markets are located in Southern California and the Bakersfield and Fresno Metro regions in California's Central Valley; 34 units in Metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona; and 27 stores in southern Nevada.

After the nine new stores open in September, the total Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market store-count will be 168. Since all nine new stores are in California, it will raise the total store-count in the Golden State to 107, which will mean a significantly high percentage of Fresh & Easy sales will depend on how the stores perform in California, particularly in Southern California where the majority of the 107 units will be located.

We said in the blog that Fresh & Easy would continue to put its new store emphasis in Southern California - and it is. In fact, the grocer hasn't opened a new store in southern Nevada (Metro Las Vegas) in over a year. And its new store openings in Metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona has been nearly as sparse.

You will no doubt see numerous publications run stories today and this week about the opening of the nine new stores, based on the Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market press release the grocer issued today. But we're the only publication that actually reported it - and we did so three weeks ago.

Linkage - Related Stories:

June 25, 2010: A Four Month Pause: No New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Set to Open Until September 2010

June 1, 2010: No New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Likely This Month

May 1, 2010: No New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Set to Open This Month

March 30, 2010: Tesco Set to Open 11 New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores in April

March 29, 2010: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Set to Hit 150-Plus Store-Count Mark on April 7

March 16, 2010: A New Fresh & Easy Store Opens in Las Vegas Tomorrow on St. Patrick's Day; Will Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy's Proud Irish Eyes Be Smiling?

March 7, 2010: Three New Fresh & Easy Stores Opening This Month; First Opening March 10 in Palm Springs, California

January 27, 2010: February New Store Opening 'Big Bang' For Tesco's Fresh & Easy; Nine New Stores So Far

February 24, 2010: Fresh & Easy Store Opens its Doors in South Los Angeles

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

April 13, 2009: Despite Postponing its Northern California Launch Again Earlier This Year Tesco's Fresh & Easy Planning Third San Francisco Store; First Stockton Unit

January 14, 2010: UFCW Union Launches Informal Boycott of Fresno CA Fresh & Easy Stores Today; One Day After the Stores Open

April 20, 2010: Strong Group Revenue & Profit For Tesco... But $253 Million Loss at Fresh & Easy

June 23, 2010: Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market CEO Tim Mason Gets Big Stock Award Featuring a Singular Twist

June 4, 2010: Every Little (Bit) Helps: Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market CEO Mason Paid $6.188 Million For 2009

June 21: The Missing Link in Tesco's Purchase of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Meat Supplier '2 Sisters Food Group'

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

No New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Likely This Month


Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has yet to announce if it plans to open any new stores this month, June, 2010.

Fresh & Easy generally announces its new store openings at least three weeks prior to the opening dates. The lead time is needed to prepare for the store grand openings and to create awareness among shoppers via the media that a new store is set to open. In addition, the grocer seldom if ever opens new stores during the last week of a month. Therefore, unless its just merely late in announcing any June openings, it appears the grocer won't be opening any new stores in June, as was the case in May. [See - May 1, 2010: No New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Set to Open This Month]

There are 159 Fresh & Easy stores open and operating in the following market regions: Southern California, as far south as near the Mexican border; California's Central Valley (the Bakersfield and Fresno Metro regions); Metropolitan Las Vegas, Nevada; and Metro Phoenix, Arizona.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market started calendar year 2010 off with a new store opening bang: It opened 11 new stores in April; three new Fresh & Easy units in March [March 7, 2010: Three New Fresh & Easy Stores Opening This Month; First Opening March 10 in Palm Springs, California]; nine in February [January 27, 2010: February New Store Opening 'Big Bang' For Tesco's Fresh & Easy; Nine New Stores So Far]; and five new stores in January, for a total of 28 new stores opened in the first four months of the 2010 calendar year.

In addition, for those readers with a fiscal year bent, Tesco's fiscal 2010-11 year began on February 28, 2010. Thus far in fiscal 2010/11 it's opened 14 (11 in April and three in March) new Fresh & Easy stores. The nine new stores in February were all opened before the February 27, 2010 end date for Tesco's 2009-10 fiscal year.

June is generally a good month for opening new grocery stores. School is getting out, which means moms stock up on additional food and related groceries. It's also still too early for most people to take their summer vacations and therefore, combined with the end of the school year. can be a smart time for grocers to open new stores.

One wonders why Tesco's Fresh & Easy would rush to open 11 new stores in April, then not open any in May, and likely none in June? Perhaps something big in brewing at Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market corporate headquarters in El Segundo, California? Stay tuned.

Fresh & Easy Buzz Linkage - Recent, Related Posts:














Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Tesco Confirms it Will Open Eleven New Fresh & Easy Stores in The Phoenix, Arizona Region; Will Bring Store Count in Market to 38 Once All Open

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market USA will add 11 new stores (plus an additional previously confrirmed store opening on November 13) to the 26 it already has open in the Phoenix, Arizona Metropolitan region, the grocery chain confirmed today in a press release.

Below are the locations of those 11 new Phoenix area stores:

  • 12th & Bell, Phoenix
  • 91st Ave & Union Hills, Peoria
  • 35th Ave & Camelback Rd, Phoenix
  • 51st Ave & Glendale, Glendale
  • 48th St. & Ray, Phoenix
  • 48th St. & Carefree Highway, Phoenix
  • 91st Ave & Northern, Peoria
  • Cotton & Greenway, Surprise
  • Cooper & Warner, Gilbert
  • 99th Ave & Lower Buckeye, Phoenix
  • Alma School & Ray, Chandler
In addition, a new Fresh & Easy fresh foods and grocery market will open on November 13 at Gilbert & Guadalupe in the Phoenix suburb of Gilbert, the company says.

Tesco already has an existing store in Gilbert at 1537 South Higley Rd.

Back on October 13, Fresh & Easy announced in this press release that the store at Gilbert & Guadalupe was open and located in a former vacant supermarket building the grocer remodeled. It appears including that Gilbert store in that October 13 release was premature since the grocer is now announcing the very same store will open on November 13 in its press release issued today.

One of the 11 new stores confirmed today also is located in Gilbert, at Cooper & Warner Streets. That will bring the total number of Fresh & Easy stores in the city to three.

Gilbert is one of the four Phoenix Metro region cities (along with Chandler, Mesa and Tempe) where Wal-Mart opened one of its first four small-format Marketside combination grocery and fresh foods stores on October 4.

Wal-Mart also plans to open a Marketside store in Peoria, Arizona, perhaps by as early as the end of this year. That will be Wal-Mart's fifth Marketside store in the Phoenix Metro market.

Two of the 11 new Arizona Fresh & Easy stores listed above happen to be located in Peoria as well. It should be interesting to observe how well (and competitively) Wal-Mart's Marketside and Tesco's Fresh & Easy play together in Peoria.

Some of the 11 new Fresh & Easy stores will open before the year is over. Others will open in early 2009.

The opening of the new store in Gilbert on November 13 will bring Tesco Fresh & Easy's Arizona store count to 27. The addition of the 11 new stores in the region confirmed today by the grocery chain will take that total store count number to 38 in the Arizona market.

As of today, Tesco operates 96 small-format, convenience-oriented Fresh & Easy grocery and fresh foods markets in Southern California, Metropolitan Las Vegas, Nevada, and in the Phoenix, Arizona Metro region.

About half of the 96 stores are in Southern California, with the remaining stores located in the Las Vegas and Phoenix regions.