Fresh & Easy to close up shop?
It's hit the news today that Tesco is considering exiting the US, which would likely mean shuttering its Fresh & Easy grocery chain.
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blackbookali
Dec 7, 2012 04:47 PM
its a bummer. it was easy on the pocket book and it had it's place.
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mucho gordo
Dec 7, 2012 10:58 AM
I'm also surprised it lasted this long. Judging by where some of the stores were located, I think they tried to appeal to the lower economic class. The 2 stores I 've been to were not that clean or well laid out. I also don't like self-checkout. I did not go through them that thoroughly and wasn't aware of their prepared foods. I might have tried some.
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Tesco misread the market. We want our stores to be called "Fresh & Easy" but we still want them filled with junk food.
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re: olyolyy
John E.
Dec 6, 2012 07:50 PM
Can you provide examples? I'm not trying to put you on the defensive. I'm just curious about how they might have misjudged the American market. I only went to F&E a few times with my father while visiting Arizona and then we were usually just buying either fresh meat of some kind or beer. (I do remember that their salsa was passable).
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This is sad. The stores -like the neighborhood market you could walk to to and shop instead of driving to a larger 'super' market- were put into long empty malls, revitalizing those parts of town that were abandoned due to the economy (other stores then moved into those empty malls) and built with energy efficiency -LED lighting and energy efficient refrigerators.
Those energy savings are reflected in lower prices. Checking out yourself also saves money.
The F&E products aren't made with corn syrup, trans fats, artificial colors or artificial flavors. The addition of bakeries in all the stores means you can walk in and get a loaf of bread or pastries baked that morning.
They schedule their deliveries to not interfere with activities in the local neighborhood, and participate with neighborhood school fundraisers and donate to local charities.
It's an old fashioned way of business which serves a purpose and just sad that people don't realize it.
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re: rasputina
The reason for prewrapping is so they -and you- don't have to weigh items at the checkout. Another way to save on cost: they know the inventory exactly and there is no 'waste'. Each package weighs more than the stated weight. All the prepackaged (and even individual) produce has a 'pull' date sticker on it.
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re: rasputina
It saves Trader Joe's and Costco to pre-pack and pre-weigh. Less people handling, damaging and 'tasting' items without purchasing.
Also the Department of Weights and Measures can just test the weight of a package instead of testing each scale at the checkout. The scales don't have to be recalibrated daily; another cost that's passed on to you by grocers.
In addition, the consumer scans a bar code a the register and does not have to remember, look up or incorrectly input a number.
Many pieces of fruit and vegetables are sold as singles, each with its own barcode.
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re: Cathy
John E.
Dec 7, 2012 09:02 AM
Aldi packages produce in the same manner. It means each store does not need a produce guy trimming and taking care of the produce. The same situation happens with the meat at Walmart. There are no meat cutters in the back. All of the meat comes to the store prepackaged.
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re: Cathy
The majority of Costco's fresh produce comes in flats or bags and they are sold at one price not by weight. In the case of pineapples, they are sold individually.
I haven't been to Trader Joes in years but from what I remember then the produce was all sold the same as in a normal grocery store. You bag what you want and they weigh at check out. Maybe it's changed, I don't know.
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That would disappoint me. F&E is a helpful place for me to pick up some slightly nicer prepared foods than I can get at other stores. I have a bizarre schedule much of the time and don't always have time to cook for just myself and F&E has filled a gap. There used to be one just up the street from me, but it closed about 1.5 years ago. The remaining one in my home area is somewhat inconvenient to get to, but I do manage to make it there once a week and it always seems moderately busy.
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John E.
Dec 5, 2012 03:28 PM
Fresh & Easy is convenient to my father's winter home in Arizona and he shops there occasionally but I doubt if he would really miss it. There are so many other places to shop in that area that I'm not surprised F&E could not compete.
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re: John E.
In that respect I think Tesco chose poorly. They put F&E in one of the most competitive markets for grocery stores (Phoenix, at least 7 major chains, and California, also very competitive). Instead, they should have chosen a market like Florida, where Publix has a near-monopoly and another choice would likely be welcomed by consumers.
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