On the new website launched to promote the new brand, the retailer for the first time confirmed the four first locations identified by the Financial [image-nocss] Times earlier this year, all of them in neighborhoods where Tesco is locating its 10,000-square-foot Fresh & Easy storesGilbert, Mesa, Chandler and Tempe, Ariz.
The website also shows the extent to which the stores will be seeking to create their own identity around the Marketside name, rather than attempting to link to Wal-Mart itself, said the report.
The 15,000-sq.-ft. formatdescribed as "a small community grocery store run by Wal-Mart"mirrors Tesco's focus at Fresh & Easy on fresh food, prepared meals and convenience; however, while Tesco has launched a hard-discount format with low overheads, Wal-Mart's stores are expected to have food prepared on the premises, and limited food service seating, the newspaper said.
The site is rendered in the brand colors of red, green, yellow and "aubergine" (eggplant or plum), and it says the stores will offer "a wide selection of complete meal solutions, fresh ingredients, and everyday favorites at affordable pricesall in one easy-to-shop store."
It also promises "top-notch customer service" from staff who will "help you select a delicious meal solution, and fill you in about foods that are grown or produced locally."
Marketside is currently recruiting both part time and full time staff to work as "meal specialists" in the front of the store, or as "pantry controllers," handling supply and replenishment.
The new stores are less than a tenth the size of most of Wal-Mart's more than 3,000 Supercenters, and less than half the size of its smaller Neighborhood Market supermarket format. The pilot stores will be run by the retailer's new business development unit from new offices in Phoenix.
Meanwhile, El Segundo, Calif.-based Fresh & Easy said it plans to hire 750 additional employees over the next three months as a part of its continued expansion. The company will open its 62nd store in Manhattan Beach, Calif., on July 2 to add the growing list of stores currently operating in Southern California, Arizona and Nevada.
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