- NEWS
- 8-vehicle crash closes major road 21 minutes ago
- Vietnamese gays to march in Tet Parade 2 hours & 26 minutes ago
- Million-dollar home sales down 15% in ‘09 1 hour & 49 minutes ago
- Oldest American to summit Mt. Everest going back for another adventure 3 hours & 14 minutes ago
- SPORTS
- SI exposes Winter Olympians 2 hours & 19 minutes ago
- Laker Rim Shots 2-8-10
- Sneak peek: SI swimsuit edition 2 hours & 8 minutes ago
- Angels' Shields won't be ready to start spring training
- BUSINESS
- Here's why Toyota is recalling the Prius 2 hours & 24 minutes ago
- Temp work pointing to a recovery?
- $16.5M apartments sale sets record 3 hours & 21 minutes ago
- Home slashes $1.3 million in 4 days
- ENTERTAINMENT
- Will H.B. woman be the next 'Bachelorette'? 1 hour & 11 minutes ago
- Ed Harris pulls us through 'Wrecks' 3 hours & 29 minutes ago
- 'Housewife' denies she has a new boyfriend
- 'Idol' champ Fantasia finds her voice on stage
- LIFE
- Cocktail ideas for Valentine's Day 3 hours & 1 minute ago
- Kaiser is top HMO in state ranking 16 minutes ago
- Study: Junk food ads make kids fat, not TV 27 minutes ago
- Heidi Montag surgeries hurt women, docs say
- TRAVEL
- OPINION
Tesco’s Fresh & Easy stumbles in U.S.
April 23rd, 2009, 6:48 am · 85 Comments · posted by Nancy Luna, Staff Writer
Looks like Tesco’s Fresh & Easy concept is still hemorrhaging financially with bigger than expected profit losses, according to a report from Business Week.
“Tesco’s much-heralded U.S. venture, Fresh & Easy, was supposed to take off. Instead, the West Coast chain of midsize food markets posted higher-than-expected losses for the year ended Feb. 28 of $206 million, up from $90 million the previous year. Prospects of achieving break even even this year look increasingly remote.”
Ever the optimist, Tesco Chief Executive Terry Leahy claimed that despite the losses, he was pleased with the chain’s progress. “Clearly nobody would have chosen to open into the recession that we’ve seen there, which is particularly stiff in the Western U.S., but the customers love the stores, and it appeals right across the income range, right across the age range, and that bodes very well for its long-term appeal,” he said in a statement.” [via Business Week]
My thoughts: Wow, $206 million in the hole? That’s not good. In March, I reported that Fresh & Easy had changed its marketing strategy by focusing more on low prices. When it first entered the U.S. market, the British chain pumped up its unique, fresh and preservative -free private label foods.
Now, weekly fliers push everything from 98-cent produce packs to cheap brand name dog food.
Fresh & Easy operates 11 small-scale stores in Orange County, and has plans to open two more in Cypress and Rancho Santa Margarita.
Tell us: Can Fresh & Easy survive another year of losses?
Related stories:
Reader Comments
Comments are encouraged, but you must follow our User Agreement.- Keep it civil and stay on topic.
- No profanity, vulgarity, racial slurs or personal attacks.
- People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked.
85 Comments
Leave a Reply
-
ADVERTISEMENT
-
Restaurants Out of Business
The recession is forcing many Orange County restaurants to shutter, and we're trying to track them all for you. Check out our O.C. Restaurant Closure List for the latest updates. -
-
-
Report: Restaurants on Twitter
Special report: Restaurants are jumping on the Social Media bandwagon. But is Eating and Tweeting luring diners? READ FULL STORY
- How Twitter-savvy are chains? CLICK HERE to see how the Fast Food Maven rates local and national chains on Twitter.
-
Preview: Seasons 52 and Capital Grille
Slide show exclusive: Preview South Coast Plaza's two new sister restaurants -- Seasons 52 and Capital Grille. Both Darden-owned chains will replace later this year the space once occupied by The Clubhouse. -
-
O.C. Frozen Yogurt Shops
-
Contact the Fast Food Maven
Follow the Fast Food Maven on Twitter or 'Friend Me' on Facebook.
Send tips reviews, gripes to nluna@ocregister.com
Nancy Luna, the Fast Food Maven
The Orange County Register
625 N. Grand Ave.
Santa Ana, CA 92711-1626
-
-
-
-
-
16th annual People's Choice
From your favorite restaurants and shops to the best day spa in town, here are your choices for the number one places to eat, shop and play in O.C.
Browse the 2009 Best of Orange County winners -
ADVERTISEMENT
I feel bad for the guy, he’s dealing with an extremely fickle Socal customer. Socal people are funny. Here you have a store that offers extremely fresh, preservative-free foods and way cheap prices. But instead people around here would rather buy junk food at Stater Bros. or Albertsons; or spend 4 times as much for the same fresh, preservative-free food at Whole Foods or Trader Joes.
Go figure.
Will they last? I hope so. But probably not because people around here are pretty ignorant and set in their ways.
Ignorance is bliss, Trader Joe’s is one of the cheaper everyday stores around.
Do some research…I’m sure your mom who does most of your shopping would agree!
Is that seriously your answer? I have done research pal. In the form of shopping. Buying the exact same things at Trader Joe’s, Ralph’s, Sprouts, and now F&E, my bill is 20-30% less at Fresh & Easy. Trader Joe’s may in fact be ‘one of the cheaper everyday stores around’ as you say, but it’s not cheaper than Fresh & Easy. And, after all, we are talking about F&E here.
It is indeed a lot cheaper but from my experiences (specifically with their Orange location) the food quality has taken a nosedive and a lot of the produce spoils within days where it lasted for a week or longer before.
I shop at both TJ’s and F&E. To say that F&E is 20% cheaper is just not true. It totally depends on what you’re buying. Dairy products are a steal at TJ’s - I wouldn’t go anywhere else for eggs, butter, buttermilk or yogurt.
TJ’s weakness in that match up is definitely not price, its the lack of brand names and a mix of products that is, to put it nicely, eclectic. F&E seems to have a more complete product mix.
I go to both stores at least once per week and I hope they both stick around a long time. But if I could have just one within walking distance, it’d be F&E.
Wow! Some really smart guys on here…. NOT
Side by side purchases at both show F&E is cheaper while TJ has more unique offerings. BUT F&E has a LARGE offering of preservative -free food at great prices that you pay a premium for at TJ.
Overall F&E is a better buy but they need to advertise beyond just flyers
Nick, I have found the food to be pre-packaged commissary type food that
you buy at 7-11 and it’s gross. It’s hardly deserving of the ‘fresh’ appellation.
I’m totally OK paying more money at a trader joe’s or WFM for truly ‘fresh’ and ‘tasty’ food. =)
Yeah but they’ll make it up on volume.
Hope they make it. I like Fresh & Easy. Problem is they have a lot of competition in my neighborhood. There is a Trader Joe’s down the street and a couple other organic type groceries up another way. I try to rotate where I buy from by checking who has the better deal for the week.
I predicted they would fail 2 years ago and it looks like I’m right. My guess is that by the end of next year they will pack it in.
Although they may have great prices for fresh food, their selection was and always will be pretty pathetic compared to that of Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods. I think people here (including myself) want a large selection of products to choose from.
I’m in S County and we only have one store down here and no where near us at all. I have been in and the major problem is I feed a family of 5 and most things are packaged for smaller families. That doesn’t help when you have two teenagers and an almost teen.
I’m in south Orange County as well. That has always been my biggest gripe with them. It is all well and good to try to serve the “food deserts” by building where no other stores seem to be. That idea makes sense on one level, in that if your competition isn’t there, you should do better by default, not to mention the altruistic motive of giving the lower socio-economic part of society the ability to make better choices on what they eat. At the same time though, why don’t you build where you *know* there are people that will appreciate your no chemical, environmentally friendly, value approach? Most of the same people that shop at Trader Joe’s/Henry’s/Gelson’s/Whole Foods/Bristol Farms fit that demographic. Trader Joe’s are always busy as everyone has noted, regardless of location or competition. For some reason though, there is only 1 F&E south of Orange, next to Leisure World, of all places! Hello???…Foothill Ranch, RSM, Ladera, Mission Viejo, all the Laguna’s, Dana Point, San Clemente? At least use those store’s sales, which I guarantee would be better than average, to prop up the losses from everywhere else. I just don’t get it.
I don’t think they are going to pack and leave though, as others are predicting. Nancy asks if they can survive another year of losses. Based on the their parent Tesco’s last year profit of 4.35 *billion* dollars, I would say they could lose $200 million for years to come without breaking a sweat. If they could just spend some of that on better market research…
I love Fresh & Easy. I can get dog food cheaper there than at PetSmart. I can get a huge variety of Annie Chun noodles and soup including the elusive Tom Yum flavor. I can pick up a cheap meal and a bottle of wine on my way home from work. I love their bags of frozen, raw, 16-21 shrimp for $9.99!! I love the self sever where there is never a line… Ok, an amusing interjection here… On Saturday, I was at F&E at about 8:20. Not many customers and I was processing my order in one of the 9 self serve lanes when 2 other shopper queued up behind me and WAITED instead of using one of the other 8 lanes that were unoccupied!!
I love my Fresh & Easy. I hope they make it.
I really like Fresh and Easy. A lot. I had one nearby in the Placentia/Brea/North Fullerton area.
It seems like one of the biggest problems was location choices. Many of the stores were placed in lowere socioeconomic neighborhoods and for some reason, this client isn’t buying it. Was Tesco taking rent prices too much into consideration? Or just looking at income of residents in prospective store areas?
The choice location in Fullerton? Euclid and Orangethorpe. Bad call. If it were to be placed closed to either Fullerton college campus, it would have made more sense. The “look” of the store seems to cater to college or more frugal yuppie types. I have no problem with that.
Whenever I am near a store, I buy wonderful, low cost items. Who cares about the Utlitarian look? Their branded items rival, and some are even better, than Trader Joes.
This is a fair point. They do have odd locations. However, I do remember that they said this was intentional because they wanted to give lower income neighborhoods an opportunity to buy the same quality foods that are available to rich yuppies who shop at Whole Foods (these weren’t the exact words from F&E).
My family loves the F & E in Fullerton. Yes, it would make sense to have it closer to the colleges but I’m grateful that it isn’t. The prices are very reasonable. I only shop there, Stater’s and sometimes Food 4 Less (sales). I hardly ever shop at Ralph’s, Von’s or Albertson’s anymore as they have very high prices unless it is a sale item. I have never been a fan of Trader Joe’s so that isn’t even an option.
I highly doubt they are going to close up shop anytime soon and my hope is that it will turn around and they will remain in O.C. Their concept has definitely made some of the other chains nervous and that’s a good thing.
I have been in Fresh & Easy a few times at the Orange Store off Chapman and first off the location and the store is NOT inviting at all. If feels as if you are in a temporary (seasonal) store.
Although some of the prices are better than Trader Joes, some of the items they sell seem of low quality. I’ve compared very similiar items at both stores and Trader Joes is of much better quality. I compared the prices on the same Tuna with Ralphs and the Ralphs price was cheaper.
The whole concept of seeing food being sold out of boxes like it just came off a truck feels like you are in a store that sells “about to expire items”, or items that were damaged in transportation.
LOL. And yet Costco does very well.
I’ve said it before………..and I’ll say it again……………it’ll never make it in this market!
F & E is empty on Saturday afternoons………..and Costco is packed to the gills!
F & E will be “no mas” by the end of 2010
Comparing Costco and F&E is like comparing apples and artichokes.
Costco is a big bulk store and F&E is anything but.
I agree, but not to speak for Eric, but I took his comment to mean that F&E’s concept won’t make it in this market because people here would rather spend an afternoon lugging around a huge massive cart full of huge massive, preservative packed foods than go to a small, simple grocery store that offers preservative-free, fresh food.
While the losses are not good, I would wager that other supermarket firms aren’t doing so well either. This is a very challenging retail environment. I like that F&E doesn’t play the “club membership” game that other supermarkets play. One price is the price everyone pays.
We bought some of the best porkchops I’ve had in a decade from a F&E. They didn’t have all the fat cut off! They actually looked like pork chops you see in pictures from the 1960s. They looked like some of the ones you see at Ranch99, only they were fresh and not nasty.
We bought Il Fornaio rolls at F&E, the same kind they used to sell at Trader Joes, fantastic rolls. TJ replaced them with their store brand version, which sucks.
But even though there are a few nice things at F&E, we shop at Trader Joe’s 10x as much as F&E. As much out of habit as anything else.
If F&E can last a few years, and keep drawing in people with promotions, they will survive.
But, If F&E turns into mini-whole foods, loosing the heavy promotions, then their poor locations are sure to undo them.
Actually supermarkets in general are doing quite well in this recessson, as for F&E, I loved it at first and still go there just not as often.
It will never be all things to all people. The selection is limited and I have had spotty quality issues with the fish. But the prices are a bit better now, the staff is always friendly and helpful and its easy to run in for one or two items.
I still prefer Sprouts for produce and don’t care one bit about the way Fresh and Easy looks inside, its clean and neat and I like the samples and tea in the back…hope they make it….
I keep getting F&E coupons in the mail because there’s one near my house, but I hate trying to check myself out, it’s annoying. I don’t mind bagging my own groceries but that’s where I draw the line. I want living human beings to assist me. Sorry Fresh & Easy, I must also say the once or twice I went in there, your store was not appealing to me either. My neighborhood is NOT a “lower socioeconomic” one, btw, though it is value conscious.
Oh see that’s one of my favorite parts. Why do I need someone to do something that’s easier for me to do myself. Plus the lines are much quicker because of it. I love doing self checkout wherever I go, but especially F&E because they have ones made for people that bought a lot of stuff with conveyor belts and everything!
At the F&E in Laguna Hills, if you have over 10 items, a store employee will ASK you if you want help in bagging and they will do it for you.
i have noticed, F&E has reduced their seletion and volume especially on the essentials. The used to have 4 refrigerated shelves for produce, 2 meat rows, and dairy. They merged those 4 types into 3 rows, and dedicated the 4th just for cold beer….but i guess some people feel beer is an essential
My main gripe with F&E is the disrespect they show to their customers by having “reserved” parking spots for families with children and hybrid cars. They are trying to hard to act like they are hip by putting up unenforceable parking signs.
Other then that I like the place, but they don’t always have what I need if we are really going grocery shopping. they are a great quick stop place for a couple items here and there though.
On my mid ‘08 visits to the second Orange store, in a process to give them repeated attempts to win my business, I just aimed my big old Dodge pickup into the “Hybrid Only” parking space and strolled right in. It was that kind of hipper-than-thou and gimmicky nonsense that turned me off of F&E in the first place.
They are hurting for business very badly according to this report, so they aren’t going to lecture you if you park an internal combustion engine vehicle in the hybrid space anyway.
Point of reference, hybrids have internal combustion engines (ICE). The also have an electrical power plant. Every car on the road would benefit from having both as a lot of power from the ICE gets wasted that could be fed back into a battery. Way more efficient and gets us away from foreign oil that much faster.
That aside, it is pointless to have a ‘hybrid’ only spot. Why bother? Add the ADA required handicap spots and let your customers park where they will. This is from a hybrid owner, by the way. We make up less than 2% of the drivers on the road and probably less than 2% of F&E’s customer base. I’d be willing to bet that the people annoyed by the signs make up a much higher percentage (Hell, even the percentage of potential customers that actively (and irrationally) dislike hybrids is probably higher).
Great points Ben. And yes, I do look forward to the day with cars zipping around that don’t burn gasoline. It will be better for all of us.
The “Hybrid Vehicles Only” parking spaces at F&E obviously didn’t help them gain warm fuzzies much, even for folks like Ben who drive a hybrid. It just seems so snarky and gimmicky and offensive to the majority of their customers. The family parking spaces were understandable, especially with housewives juggling toddlers and such. But they should have stopped there with that lone gimmick.
The police always park their cruiser in the hybrid stall and shop without a care in the world. Those cruisers are far from hybrids.
I was an avid Trader Joe’s fan, but with the F&E so much closer, I’m afraid F&E wins out more often than not. I have my items from each store that I prefer, so I do make it up to TJ’s often enough to stock up on what I love. But when I get multiple F&E coupons in the mail, it’s hard to resist. I go mainly for the produce anyhow, and I haven’t had a problem with it spoiling before I get to use it. They have a pasta sauce that is the same as my favorite I get at TJ’s, and cheaper. I suppose it’s all dependent on how you look at, and your likes and dislikes. I personally love F&E, could care less about the self check out, I let my tot do the scanning and she loves it. I do get a little bent when I see people in little sports cars that couldn’t possible fit a child car seat parking in the unenforceable spots, but I have the last laugh because I get better parking since I bike ;). But I do appreciate the thought that F&E had in making those parking spots, and I wish more businesses would follow suit,
The best deal is the Taurino beer for $5.99 a 12-pack.
Haven’t tried their $2/bottle wine yet.
Well I personally am surprised that F&E is still in business! Every single time I’ve been there they are empty. Even during the “after work gotta get dinner” rush, there is nobody there! It’s really sad how I can barely maneuver through TJs or even one of the chain stores,at any given time,let alone during the after work rush. Also I never hear anyone singing their praises. It’s like “Oh F&E,um they’re like whatever,nothing special.” I seen more people in the 99 cents store grocery section, than I’ve seen at any F&E! As someone previously mentioned,F&E isn’t a store that you do all your shopping at;it’s like go in, get a few things(that they may have on sale that week) and then go to a real store to get the rest. There’s just something missing,that thing that sets them apart from their competitors.
I do all of my shopping at F&E. We are a family of four and never go to any other store than F&E. It’s incredible to me that people seem to think they can’t get everything at F&E. Seriously, what are you buying that F&E doesn’t have?
Nick, stop blogging so much and get back to shopping at Fresh And Easy!
They need your business!
Y’all just keep focusing on me, Nick.
I guess one good thing about F&E is that you never have to worry about anyone blocking the aisle with their cart. Seriously,it’s the only store with empty aisles everyday!!
Anyone else love their frozen food and sauces? Those are my two favorite things about F&E. Their frozen Mac & Cheese (is it 4 cheese?) is phenomenal! Their marinades rock. Their ice creams and gelatos are good and great prices. Their fruit and vegetable selection are their weaknessess, IMO.
I like that I get to bag my own stuff. Easier and quick minus the need for interaction. Sue me!
Sue me too then, because that’s one of the best things about F&E to me, after their lower prices. I like checking myself out. People think their stores are always so empty. That’s probably because you aren’t stacked to the rafters with people right at the entrance (i.e. checkout lines). You get in and get out. So there’s not a lot of people hanging around the store.
I’m with you on their food selection too. Some of the best pasta sauces and pasta I’ve gotten from a grocery store. Their ground beef is phenomenal for burgers!
I also agree with you about the interaction thing. This goes back to my original comment on this thread about people here being so set in their ways. Why do I need someone to interact with me at checkout? It just keeps me in the store longer and honestly, I don’t care about idle chit chat with the checkout person. That person costs me money and time. Money in the form of higher prices at the store. The fact that F&E has made it so easy to ring and bag your own groceries shows you that the checker and the bagger at the traditional grocery store are completely meaningless positions.
Hey Philly Girl! I’m with you on the Mac & Cheese! If I don’t make it, F&E is the next best!
I love F&E, I’m in the store closest to me all the time. I hate the lines at the larger chains close to me and their staff isn’t friendly or helpful either. F&E staff are always friendly and helpful. I use the self-check lines too, my kids do the scanning and bagging most of the time. If we’ve had more than 15 items and go to the other line, there’s always a F&E employee there waiting to help if I need it. They are helping other customers as well. I appreciate being greeted when I walk in compared to other stores where the check out clerks barely acknowledge you. F&E is great for my picky family as everyone can have what they want some nights without it breaking our budget, yet they have everything I need if we’re all having the same thing for dinner too. The meat is always fresh and tastes good.
I hope they stick around!
If Fresh&Easy’s financial losses more than doubled in ‘08 to $200+ Million, then their customers can’t “love them” that much.
They should have taken my advice I had for them over a year ago and try an emergency injection of charm and warmth into their sterile, bland stores. Shopping at Fresh&Easy here in Orange has all the fun of shopping in the old Soviet Union on a good day when Brezhnev was coming through for a photo op and they stocked all the shelves for him. (Okay, maybe not that bad, but it’s still pretty dire looking in there.)
The Trader Joes here in Orange is warmer, nicer and friendlier than Fresh&Easy, and I really think they made a huge mistake by going for the sterile government store look that they did. They had a clean slate and could have crafted any vibe or theme or emotion that they wanted with their American stores. And the look they chose was “Sterile Boredom”. I bet they wished they hadn’t at this point.
Good luck to ‘em climbing out of that hole they dug for themselves.
So how long have you worked for Trader Joe’s, Troy? LOL.
I work in the entertainment industry actually, so I know a few things about showmanship. Succesful retail often makes a connection to customers through a form of theatrics and showmanship. Fresh&Easy failed to make that connection.
Except you compare it to a place you’ve likely never been. Correct me if I’m wrong but I suspect you haven’t been to a ‘Soviet Union’ grocery store on a day when Brezhnev was there, much less any Soviet Union era grocery store. So the analogy is pretty lame.
And no offense, but I don’t think you’re entertaining so I guess your showmanship doesn’t sell to everyone. Just like F&E isn’t going to sell to everyone; or take your advice.
I guess it boils to whether you care so much about your grocery store ‘experience’ that you’re willing to make it an ‘event’. I’d rather zip into the F&E parking lot, park right up front, zip into the store and zip out. All in a matter of 20 minutes vs. creeping around a crowded parking lot, squeezing into a tight spot, negotiate my way around crowded grocery aisles, and then stand in line for 10+ minutes waiting to check out. I don’t need entertainment when I go to the grocery store. It’s not worth the extra time, frustration, and money. It’s just groceries!
Additionally, I prefer the natural lighting and the fact that F&E has a policy against using a PA in their stores. It’s quiet and nice in there. No cling clanging and shouting. I leave cling clang and shouting to the casinos.
Albertsons and TJ’s hasn’t had a dance number for years (lol). I remembered the good ol days when the Lucky’s Market baggers would jump on the checkout stands and sing “Have a coke and a smile!” in between mime acts in the Dairy section. What are you talking about? Customers want low prices and quality products. If they want to be entertained, they just need to turn on their television sets. I shop and both TJ’s and F&E. What’s wrong with a little competition and a larger selection between the TWO niche stores? Why do people wish there were less competition and less stores to choose from? THAT sounds like the Soviet Union to me.
Just an observation here: it looks like a majority of the men (at least the ones you can tell gender) like TJ’s over F&E. Could it have something to do with the larger selection of beer? * chuckles*
Anyway, I like both stores and I go to both stores as one carries stuff the other doesn’t, plus I also go to Henry’s and Ralphs. I WOULD love to try and cut at least one store out, but so far none of them carry EVERYTHING I need. * sighs*
F&E spent far too much time and money getting their concept off the ground, and expanded way too aggressively. They are overleveraged and are pushing a concept most Americans don’t like, especially in this region. My prediction: expansion plans will be put on hold, more store closings this year, and they’ll be gone by the end of 2010.
I love F&E. I admit the ambiance is a bit lackluster, but I’m shopping for good food, at a low price. If I wanted glitz, I’d be at that ridiculous Whole Foods at the District. I have certain stores for certain things, though. I shop at Costco, Trader Joe’s, Stater Bros., and very occasionally Mother’s or Whole Foods. And I’m with Dan - I LOVE checking out myself and bagging my stuff the way I want it bagged, not all my purchases crammed into two bags like they do at TJ’s. I truly wish F&E the best, and hope they make it.
Personally I live about 5 miles from the closest F&E however I have never received a mailer from them. Every week I get a mailer from Henry’s market which is also about 5 miles away and because of their advertised great prices I go there. I have gone so far as to go to the F&E website to try and find out just how great their prices are, yet I can’t find anything, sorry but having great prices only works if you can get people into your stores first, maybe they should try sending out some coupons, spend $20 get $5 off…something to drive people in….
Hey Brian: If F&E is only 5 miles, why don’t you just stop in? Why do you have to wait for a flyer?
I always used to get $5 off a $20 purchase. Now they have changed it to $6 off a $30 purchase. I would stock up on the frozen foods for work and at $1.99 per, I would get quite a lot of value if you factor in the $5 coupon.
Would be a shame if they did close. We still shop at TJs and now also shop at F&E. We never go to big grocery stores anymore. Honestly, we don’t even do a lot of food shopping at Target anymore either because F&E has lots of name brand stuff too that TJs doesn’t.
If you ever buy the boxed oatmeal at F&E and TJ’s, you’ll see it’s the same exact packets only different boxes. F&E is slightly less expensive than TJs tho.
We shop at the one in Orange off Chapman. I really wish they would have opened on in Anaheim Hills. Now we have Mothers coming and some Wholesome Choice place. Would have been nice to get a cheaper alternative to healthy and fresh food.
I would shop there if one was nearer to my house in Brea. They have TWO stores in neighboring La Habra, but it’s just too far to drive for groceries since there’s a Ralph’s across the street and a Stater Brother’s 2 miles away. I questioning the company’s strategy on choosing the location of these stores…I think they would do well in certain parts of the county, but why have two next to each other?
Also, I think there’s not enough difference between F&E than the competition–what do they offer that I can’t get at an Albertson’s, Vons or Trader Joes?
“what do they offer that I can’t get at an Albertson’s, Vons or Trader Joes?”
Less crowds, cheaper prices, environmentally friendly store with natural lighting and not overhead PA.
I think the lack of crowds is exactly why Fresh And Easy is in the financial trouble they are in.
I doubt the corporate office is thrilled with the lack of crowds in their stores.
A lack of inventory on Sunday afternoons?
Surely the root of all F&E’s financial trouble has to do with the hiring of overpaid lazy union workers, oh wait…..
Big fan of the bottled water, and the prices they sell it for. Chapman/Orange location for me, too. Liked the Tamale Bake, and I used to work for Trader Joes, so it’s always going to win me out on most places. F&E is different. Great cuts of meat and the prices are definitely improving. Plus the coupons and stuff really make it worthwhile. I hope they last…
We dont have a fresh n easy near us. I only happened to go to one because my friend had a flyer and I drove to the Fountain Valley location. I wish they had one in costa mesa. I know they wouldnt open one in Newport but if they had one closer I would definately shop there
forgot to add I dont shop at ralphs or vons anymore due to the double coupon policy changes. I shop at trader joes because its close and the farmers market.
WOW Nick, someone sure does LOVE F&E tremendously to be posting 5 million comments. lol
This is a strange store. The locations of the ones here in s oc are in weird locations, hence the loss of money! It also has a strange mix of food, and some stuff is really overpriced and some is so low it amazes me - bought 10 1 pound chocolate bars there for 1.00 each. Thats why losing money!
Totally agree!! It’s a weird mix of food and the stuff that they sell cheap is sold cheap pretty much everywhere. Some of their frozen stuff is just ridiculously overpriced!
TJ’s and F&E are great! So many items that I can buy and not have to worry about a ton of crappy chemical ingredients like so much @ Ralphs, Vons etc
Troy, I’d personally much rather have good value and decent quality food over a warm and fuzzy “total shopping experience”..;)
Ms. Luna, you always rustle up great responses when you blog about F&E, don’t you?!
Second only to the third false announcement of the return of Farrell’s, of course!
I love F & E but don’t get to go there nearly as much as I like because of their location choices. Both of their stores nearest my home are in lower income neighborhoods in the next city through the worst traffic. It is just not worth the driving headache to get there when Vons is a block a way.
I would probably shop there more than anywhere else if there was one more convenient since my neighborhood (north west OC) seems to be blacklisted by every kind of healthy store with no TJ’s, Wild Oats, Henrys, Whole Foods, Mother’s or anythings else.
If you build it ….I would come.
From everything I read and hear from people, F&E is great. I’ve never been there personally and here’s why: 1. There is not a location close to my home. 2. There is not a location close to my work.
There is, however, 2 Costco’s, a Ralph’s, a Stater Bros, a Vons, Target, Walmart, even a 7-11 close to my house. Trader Joe’s is next to the building I work at. If they had a F&E as close as these, I would probably go there.
I don’t really care for said reasons, but I hope they stick around because my friends and my parents really like going there.
Does anyone else feel like they are in a 3 world country when shopping in a F & E?
I’ve seen pictures of markets in Russia that look eerily similar!…….lol!
Eric, that Russian jab is usually my line!
And for the record, I did visit the old USSR for two weeks in June of 1989, about six months before the Berlin Wall fell. I was in Moscow as part of a student exhange, visiting the family whose son we hosted earlier that spring, and it was awesome. I did visit the stores there, and they obviously had no resemblance to the Fresh & Easy on Chapman Avenue. I’ll never forget when my Mom took Boris (no joke, that was our exchange students name!) to Ralphs on his first day here and the poor kid hyperventilated in the peanut butter aisle. He’d never seen so much food all stacked so neatly in shiny aisle after shiny aisle. It really makes you thankful for what we have in this country! Moscow in 1989 was dingy, grey and depressing, even to a teenager. I hear it’s much better now.
Clearly my reference to F&E being like something from the old Soviet Union on a good day prepped for a Brezhnev photo op was a joke. But I guess some folks take their Fresh&Easy shopping experience very, very seriously and thought I was also being serious. I wasn’t.
I wish F&E luck, as I would hate to see more folks lose their jobs in this economic climate. But my hunch is that they will either freeze their current SoCal footprint as a best case scenario, or cease to exist entirely within a year as a worst case scenario.
Troy, My appologioes!…..I was unaware you had the market cornered on Russian references??…………I will use the country “Kazakhstan”………in all of my future posts when I need a 3rd world country to compare the U.S. too……….
Kind of funny, My mother too took an exchange student into a Ralphs………….she hosted one for dinner one evening back in the early 90’s…………..she took him into the Ralphs in Villa Park no less…………she took him over there on her way home to pick out steaks to BBQ that night………….she had no idea he had never seen the inside of one of our grocery stores…………
When they got back to the meat department, He asked her…..”how many steaks are you allowed to buy”…………she responded………”As many as I want!”…………she said he got real quiet and somber and then said……….”They have enough steaks here for my entire village to each have one”………….she let him pick out what ever he wanted, he choose a large porterhouse……….she said he ate every bite of the at steak that night!
Yes, their products are fresh and easy to prepare. But their products are not cheap. I took a walk through the store when they first opened it in my area. I don’t think I will come back.
I get about 6 different ads for supermarket a week. F&E’s prices are not even close. It might work for areas where there are Ralps and Vons and such but not around my area. I get my cheap seafood and produce at Asian markets, dairy products at Stater Bros, and the rest from TJ and others.
Ha Ha,,,,goodbye TESCO!
Sour grapes over Trader Joe’s doing so well despite the fact that they are non-union?
Sour Grapes? Trader Joe’s is no threat…they are fine for all you you house frowes that think your being healthy and organic. Take a look down at those hips and try hitting the gym at least 3 times a week.
I strangely agree with union grocer. It baffles me when I go into trader joes and see all these pseudo health nuts when based on appearance, they obviously don’t eat that way everyday!
Just because my handle says “mommy” you automatically assume that I am a stay at home. Just to set the record, I am a widow with 1 kid that I’m helping to put through college and 1 kid still in high school. I work 2 jobs so we all can eat and live in a nice place and that the oldest can finish school, get a great job and support me! So, I do not have time to go to the gym 3 times a week; I get my work-out from shopping at markets that offer great food and inexpensive prices because they don’t have to play the union game.
People are kidding themselves if they think Trader Joe’s is healthy. It’s funny how people can just believe a perception put forth by marketing. Read the labels people, Trader Joe’s brand foods and especially their pre-packaged foods aren’t at all healthy. Maybe they are ‘healthier’ than fried chicken from KFC, but they are not healthy by health standards.
But Trader Joe’s markets itself and funky and hippie so it MUST be healthy. LOL.
Okay lets be real here,Fresh and Easy is gone!! It’s coming soon unless they can get more shoppers in their stores,which doesn’t seem likely because they lack the xfactor that their closest competitors have. Say what you will about Ralphs,Albertsons,Vons TJs ect. but they have more customers and have already proven themselves for decades. Fresh and easy hasn’t even busted the 5 year mark and they have been in trouble since the beginning! Nick and the few other customers they have are not enough to keep it going! Speaking of Nick,do you work for Fresh and Easy or something? I give them another year before 99 cents store/biglots starts carrying their stuff!
It was just reported that one of the seniors managers said of F&E ‘We are in this for the long game’ Come on guy, we don’t have phrases like that here, think of your audience. It still shows me they just don’t ‘get’ the U.S. consumer, still doing it their way and we will flock to the stores.
Hey, you have to hand it to TESCO, they spent months and millions on a mock-up ‘test store’ and ‘market-research’, sold the concept to the shareholders, brought their own vendors from overseas, treated US suppliers like crap, resistant to change and adopt U.S. ways, and now are bleeding cash and significantly altering their plans and may leave the U.S.
Gosh, it feels like 1783 all over again.
Well all I can say is I have been in the Laguna Woods store exactly one time, and it was the last time. The food is terrible and the selection of products is ridiculous. They had more booze on the shelves than anything else. The store sucks.