EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Small-format grocer Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets Inc., a unit of London-based Tesco Plc, said earlier this week that it would close 12 underperforming stores.
"Fresh & Easy continues to grow, opening more stores and we are welcoming more new customers every week, and we are opening 25 stores between now and the end of March," company spokesperson Brendan Wonnacott told CSP Daily News. "Like any retailer, we are always evaluating our store portfolio, and we have decided to temporarily close 12 underperforming stores."
He added, "At this time, there is simply not enough growth in sales and customers at these stores to keep them open. We will close these stores over the coming weeks, and we will re-open them when economic and business conditions warrant. We are offering all impacted employees a position at a nearby store."
Stores slated for closure are in Hemet, Anaheim, Fountain Valley, Bakersfield, Baldwin Park, Fresno and Ontario, Calif.; Las Vegas; and Phoenix (4).
Stores preparing to open through the middle of February--all in California--are in Hermosa Beach, Mountain View, Brentwood, Burbank, Santee, Laguna Niguel, San Francisco, Torrance, San Luis Obispo, Granada Hills and Los Angels, in order of opening, with more to follow.
According to a report by the Orange County Register, some stores will be even-smaller-format Fresh & Easy Express markets. The 3,000-square-foot "micro" stores will offer some of the chain's most popular grocery items. Three are planned for Orange County.
(Click here for previousCSP Daily News coverage.)
In October 2010, El Segundo, Calif.-based Fresh & Easy closed 13 stores--six in Nevada, six in Arizona and one in California--citing the severity of the "residential and commercial property crash""--but later also opened additional locations (see Related Content below).
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