Fresh and Easy going down?
 

Doesn't seem to be working out for Tescos huh...

They're apparently going to close the store that they first started out here and are closing another 12 after closing a bunch last year, with another 13 or so that were supposed to be opening having been shelved.

Was reading that they aren't really listening to local markets, buy selling booze in areas with a lot of churches being unpopular, which is odd...that and concentrating on poorer neighbourhoods.

So is the food actually decent quality and priced or are they a bit poo? Or just a bad choice of market to enter?

They probably would have done quite well on the east coast well in New England, as there isn't as much competition, Trader Joes isn't in Maine really, leaving the expensive Whole Foods, so they had a chance there and around.

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

They are closing about half their stores here in Phoenix, though notably the ones closing are all in the avenues (i.e the less well off western side of town).

I quite like it, occasionally pop in for some groceries. Good pre prepared stuff, some British stuff. They seemed to be priced near the upper middle end but not as bad as Whole Pacycheck.

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

OH wondered if the British management people turned it over to US managers too soon or failed to train American managers properly? Would not be a bit surprised to hear that's the biggest problem as US store managers, IMO, are notorious for not listening to their patrons or designing product for market. :frown:

Also, seems like Tesco would have been smart enough to try to appeal to better neighborhoods first, then expand into the poorer ones. But then, CA doesn't seem like the most logical starting point - think they would have done better in areas east of the Mississippi River. :unsure:

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

They couldn't really have started up at a worse time, could they? 2007 was the start of the total decimation, certainly in Phoenix and Las Vegas.

I think they'll weather it.

Total innovation in F&E are the self check-outs. Never seen a better system in my life! It's very rare you have to wave the item around for more than a second to get the beep. All other retailers should be forced to visit and inspect.

Food's not bad ,and own-brand stuff is relatively free of chemical garbage. Prices are a little above, but with the discount in the local flyer (usually $5 off $25) not too bad.

Typhoo tea, Paxo, Heinz beanz, etc readily available.

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

That is strange, we have churches here right next to strip clubs. Maybe they are complaining about the lack of naked women whilst buying their booze.

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

I've tried shopping at F&E several times. I find them OK (and sometimes cheap) for stapes like canned goods, dry goods, prepared foods....but I don't like their produce at all. It always seems on the verge of going bad. Every time I've bought stuff there, if I don't use it by the next day, it's gone bad. Whereas if I buy produce in Safeway, it lasts me 4 or 5 days at least.

I personally don't like the self-checkout system.

Rene

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

Perhaps we should explain that at F&E there is no choice but to use the self check-out system. So -- presumably -- you don't like having to check out yourself rather than the system? Because the system itself is top notch!

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

I love F&E, I do most of my grocery shopping there and find it cheap compared to Safeways and the other local stores. Especially now they have introduced their points cards. I know their pre-packaged meals are expensive, but I never buy these anyway, I make most things from scratch.

The produce is always fresh where I go, and keeps well for several days. I like their salad deli things like coleslaw and pasta salads, they aren't full of sugar.

I really hope they don't go under:fingerscrossed:

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

Top notch until you have to wait for someone to okay you not bagging something or verify your age for a bottle of wine.

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

Compared with the ones at Frys (what they call Kroger here in AZ) or frikkin Ikea, they're three generations ahead.

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

I go to F&E all the time when I'm somewhere near one.

Without question the best supermarket I've found in the US, the only supermarket chain anywhere near as good is Publix in Florida.

As the name implies, fresh food, not frozen food, i.e. fresh prepared meals like you would have in a British supermarket. Even their frozen meals are better than anywhere else I've been. Plus they have back bacon, good sausages, smoked salmon and so on.

I'm not surprised they're closing some stores down though, they haven't made any money since the beginning and I think to begin with they didn't think the recession was going to last this long or be this bad.

One serious error they seem to have made imo is that they pitch the stores as being cheap, so this gives people a false perception that it is low quality, plus they also seem to be afraid of putting anything up in Spanish, even though the stores are all in the southwest.

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

Not my experience, quite the reverse in fact. One of the reasons I shop at F&E.

I don't think the self check out thing is anything special. No different than anywhere else I've been, except for the conveyor belts.

I think one of the reasons I like F&E is the size of the store, it is a more manageable size so you can find things easily, unlike these cavernous stores that Kroger's etc keep building. I absolutely despise with a burning passion going to a Wal-Mart Supercenter. I can never bloody find anything and it's so big I get disorientated.

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

They really do need to advertise more though. I used to shop with them when I lived in LA, they weren't open in the San Jose area when I moved. After a couple of months they opened their first San Jose store so I travelled 20 miles to go there, then after repeatedly checking their website found they had opened a store around 7 miles away in October last year. They have been supposedly opening a store 2 miles away from me for the last 2 years. I've just checked to see if this one has also been binned and they opened last week.

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

Do they let their check-out staff sit on chairs like they do in the UK?

They have some enormous Tesco hypermarkets in Malaysia - I bought a kettle, vacuum cleaner and iron there, just across the border from Singapore which we've taken to Switzerland - and I spotted a large Tesco 'Tulip' supermarket (and some 'Boots the Chemist' shops) in Phuket, Thailand. They were all very busy shops.

I did read in the UK press last week though that Tesco's had a very poor Christmas season in their British stores:

http://news.sky.com/home/business/article/16147636

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

It's all self checkout. There's usually an employee hanging around the checkout area to help out, though, for the feeble, old and/or lazy.

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

Also Tesco USA is more a supermarket than a hypermarket. A smallish supermarket at that!

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

Right, I don't like having to check out myself. Safeway has both, and I only use the self check out if I have just one item and I'm in a hurry. In general, I just don't like it. Another reason I don't frequent F&E.

Rene

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

Even after a decade and more here, I'm embarrassed when someone packs my grocery bags.

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

I shop at the F&E in Eagle Rock -- it seems to be doing quite well. They have excellent helpful staff. At times I've used the one on Hollywood Blvd. near the Chinese Theater -- their staff sucks and is not helpful at all.

I've noted that the locations in old vacant super-markets will use half of the space with a "for lease" on the remainder of the space and no takers.

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

Very much like F&E - we have one that's within (European) walking distance of where we live.

It's not the cheapest but quality makes up for it - we have been doing a lot of our grocery shopping at the local Fry's and a few other places but the management there seems to be unable to figure out how to reorder, manage employee hours for consistently good service, or present produce that isn't about to go 'off' 20 minutes after getting it home.

More & more they seem to stop stocking the kinds of things we really like... meaning increasingly we have to go elsewhere to get the missing stuff.... and if you're going elsewhere, why not get everything at the other place.

My only gripe for our F&E is it doesn't have everything we need and some staples are more expensive.

I'd hate to see them disappear...

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

Especially when you all go shopping and there are 3 of you stood doing nothing. Not that my hubby ever goes to the store, EVER...

My daughter scans and I pack, we normally get it done quicker than waiting for them to mess around doing it in Safeways.

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

One item per bag!!!

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

I remember my trip to the UK way back in 1997. The first time we went grocery shopping, I was shocked to find out we had to pack our own bags!

Rene

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

I remember the boys in the Army Commissary who would pack your bags and then carry them out to the car -- they then would ask to be paid, it seemed that it was a long established practice! Of course, the prices were quite low minus 15%.

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

Why didn't they call themselves Tesco in America?

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

No brand recognition, so might as well go with something more interesting that tries to define what you are.

It's a massive market, with loads of competition so something pretty nondescript would get lost amongst the masses.

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

I don't care for F and E never found much that caught my eye, I felt sure that the store in Pleasanton or was it Modesto had self and regular check out desks!!! :unsure:

I have noticed on my travels that there are new locations opening I saw one yesterday in Sacramento on Watt Ave and they were moving supplies into the store yesterday lights were on and trucks outside!!

I am more your Grocery Outlet kinda lass and what they don't have I use Raley's who have dropped their prices at last.....Safeway is my fav but so flippen expensive.

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

Safeway has good sale prices though. Also lately I've been following Rene's advice and buying the Safeway brands (Eating Right, Lucerne, etc.) and have been very surprised at the quality. In fact now I much prefer some of the Safeway products over the national brands.

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

Yes in all fairness you are correct and the Friday specials can be good, but its still the most expensive in my opinion.

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

Also what I didn't realize is that prices between Safeway stores within the area can be different. Safeway, for some products, lists what they consider the normal price and their card saving price and the card saving price may or may not be at other stores.

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

This is something I have noted with Safeway and all the other stores. The base price is inflated, the club card price is the "real" price. The answer is to join all the loyalty clubs and keep adding their little cards to your keyring.

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

Yes this indeed is a trick that Safeway play I know that some of the stores lead you to believe that you are getting a real bargin ie a EDLP (every day low price)its is a con lol....they will put the suggested retail price as lets say $6.99 but they are going to give you a EDLP of $5.99 they just add the top figure up to make it look like a bargin!!

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

I've only been in one in my life (at Scottsdale Rd and Shea Blvd), last year. I found it utterly depressing - much worse than a typical (refurbished) Safeway or Fry's. It seemed to be pushing the 'no frills' look (a la Costco, which is my favorite store), but the prices didn't seem to reflect that and the signage was not too helpful (in terms of finding stuff), and I just walked out without making any purchases. I was ever so optimistic, thinking it would be a more reasonably priced alternative to Whole Paycheck, but I was not inspired to ever return. So to me they were missing the mark and I'm not surprised to read this.

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

Felt the same way very disappointed.

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

So you walked in, then walked out on initial impressions? Bit superficial, old boy!

It certainly ain't the greatest thing since sliced bread, and we're more Trader Joe's shoppers than anything else. But some of the own brand stuff is rather good at F&E. And it certainly is different from the other sparse grocery offerings in the Phoenix market.

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

OK, I'll go back and give them one more try ... I'm starting to eat the prepared stuff (salads and main dishes) from Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, so if F&E's prepared stuff is good, I'll give it a try.

Where I live we are spoiled for choice (Shea/101 area) - Sprouts, 3 Safeways, 2 Fry's, Whole Foods up at Raintree, Trader Joe's at FLW, AJ's on Via Linda ... so if I'm not impressed I don't really have any reason to go back. But I'll give them another shot.

No choice on self-checkout really does sound shitty; I'm all fine with self checkout when it's obvious stuff with bar codes, but loose shit like apples, etc ... are they ALL bar-coded? do you have to do produce lookup ...? And as Renee pointed out, it's a bummer when alcohol enters the mix. Having a mix of self- and assisted-checkout seems to be the better approach to me.

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

I'm really surprised that people complain that it is expensive, where else can you buy a bag of apples, carrots, onions, oranges for 99c each, a whole chicken for $5, big bags of pasta for $1.19 and tinned tomatoes for 79c. A fresh apple pie for $3 and French Brie for under $6? Thats before you start on the English stuff with hobnobs $2.99 and Robinsons squash $3.99 and back bacon and sausages under $5. What are you guys buying that's so expensive?

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

The biggest problem with Fresh and Easy is that every store has exactly the same stock - they need to tailor the stores to the neighborhoods they are in. They do very well in areas that have a lot of people with European and Asian roots but very poorly in Hispanic areas. And you don't want to do that in California.

I often read Fresh and Easy Buzz and I hope Tesco management do as well - they talk a lot of sense.

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

Everything scans easily, if you buy a bag of loose apples you just run the bag over the scanner and it asks for the quantity you are buying. It's not really an issue if you are buying alcohol as the light immediately goes on but you continue scanning stuff, a member of staff wanders over and approves the sale on the screen while you are still scanning

Re: Fresh and Easy going down?
 

:) Well I can get all of the mentioned at the same price give or take a few cents in Winco or when on offer on Raleys....the bacon I buy Canadian smoked from Grocery Outlet its really yummie and $2.99 for a big pack.......all the english stuff I don't really buy unless I see it on offer in Safeway or World Market!....fruit and veg I buy at farmers markets as much as I can!...GOD help me if I saw Hodnobs everytime I went shopping :lol: