Bob

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.

sir_eccles

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.

Egg and Cress

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.

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.

fatbrit

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.

SpoogleDrummer

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.

Noorah101

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

fatbrit

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!

N1cky

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

sir_eccles

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

fatbrit

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

Steve_

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.

Steve_

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.

N1cky

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.

Englishmum

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

fatbrit

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.