PHOENIX -- The properties for two planned Tesco stores in Phoenix are sited in the homebound traffic flow of two bedroom suburbs, positioning the retailer to offer convenient, home-meal-replacement options to commuters returning from a day's work in the city, a recent visit revealed.
Tesco has up to 30 sites planned for the Phoenix area, and at one location in a growing community off of Baseline Road, the U.K. retail giant has a store planned within a larger, ground-up mall, said Gabe Hernandez, project director, Kornwasser Shopping Center Properties [image-nocss] LLC of Phoenix.
[Clickthe Download Now button belowto viewa picture ofthe Tesco site off of Baseline Road.]
Hernandez did not have the square-footage information when he spoke with CSP Daily News, but he did confirm that the Tesco site would not offer gasoline. Hernandez is in charge of the extensive project, one that includes a CVS Pharmacy and a Lowe's home-improvement outlet.
A quick drive up and down the area's long boulevards showed new apartments across from established, single-family cottages. The neighborhood appeared ethnically diverse with a mixture of Hispanic, white and African-American residents. Hernandez described the community as middle class, but definitely undergoing new and sudden transitionas attested to just blocks away by a relatively new gated community with a pasture of grazing horses across the street.
Tesco officials have announced to local media that it plans 20 Fresh & Easy stores in the market with a potential of 30 sites by the end of 2007. The company also released the locations of many of the proposed sites, the addresses of which were confirmed by publicly obtained, liquor-license applications. In addition, Tesco management has opened up a Web site to recruit new employees: www.careersatfreshandeasy.com.
Meanwhile, several sources have confirmed that the company does not intend to sell tobacco products in its U.S. stores, further bolstering the growing impression that the company is targeting the specialty grocery store channel as its prime competition rather than the c-store channel.
At a similarly targeted location in Phoenix's Avondale neighborhood, a proposed Tesco site sits positioned on the homeward-bound side of that commute. An area resident also described the community as middle class and well-established, although new neighborhood construction was very apparent. Compared to the Baseline location, the Avondale site was just a cleared lot and did not have active construction on the property.
[Pictured: The corner for a proposed Tesco site in Avondale, Ariz., sits on the homeward-bound side of the street, giving commuters coming back from downtown Phoenix a place to stop for ready-to-heat dinners.]
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