EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- About 18 months after being bought by Yucaipa Co., the Fresh & Easy chain of fresh grocery stores will sell some of its locations, as reported in a 21st Century Smoke/CSP Daily News Flash, while also refocusing its retail strategy to deliver "a new vision of modern convenience."
"The company is now in a better position to rationalize its store base and divest locations that do not meet the criteria of Fresh & Easy’s model of modern convenience," the company said in a statement.
That new model means a major downsizing of the chain's stores, which began in 2007 as a unit of the U.K.'s Tesco with the opening of 10,000- to 15,000-square-foot stores.
"This move allows the company to redeploy capital into development and growth, including a 3,000- to 5,000-square-foot store to provide a higher level of convenience and greater density."
The El Segundo, Calif.-based company is working with ADMI, the firm behind the design of the Apple Store, "to design the Fresh & Easy store of the future--a concept that the company believes represents the future of convenience retail and puts Fresh & Easy into a category of one: the only fresh-food convenience store."
Early media reports of Fresh & Easy's store sales in Arizona, California and Nevada said 50 of the units would be sold. The company, however, has not stated a definitive number of sites to be sold.
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