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Tesco faces defeat in battle for America

Tesco faces defeat in battle for America

Old Dec 5th 2012, 11:09 pm
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Default Re: Tesco faces defeat in battle for America

This message just popped up from F&E on Facebook. Hope they don't close


You may have read today that our parent company, Tesco, has announced a ‘strategic review’ of fresh&easy. We wanted to reassure you, as our friends and greatest supporters, that we are open for business as usual and we look forward to bringing the same delicious, wholesome, and affordable food and the same great service that you have come to expect from us every day.

We appreciate all of the support and affirmations of “We ♥ fresh&easy” from our community of team members, neighbors and customers that we’ve been seeing today!
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Old Dec 6th 2012, 6:02 pm
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Default Re: Tesco faces defeat in battle for America

Originally Posted by dlake02
This would be a shame, but to be honest, compared to Tesco stores in the UK, FnE has been awful.
I completely and totally utterly disagree.

I was in the UK last year in a Tesco Xtra or whatever it is called and it was terrible, same sort of frozen crap they have in American supermarkets and lost in a maze of aisles. Although admittedly not as bad as a Wal-Mart Super Center.

Fresh & Easy is a far better place to shop for food and the food itself is better, imo, the fresh prepared meals are better than anything I've ever seen in Tesco.

I don't agree with some of the comments being made in the press about self check outs, they always have attendants on hand to help you.

I think the real problem was the name, it sounds sort of like a whole food upmarket store but in reality it is a budget store. They should have just called it: "Tesco" or some other made up word.

Also I notice that it appeals to a lot of latinos, and they should have put up signs in Spanish, given that all the stores are in the southwest.

I can do my shopping really quickly at F&E, takes much longer at the big American supermarkets.

The only real problem I have is that there is always the odd thing they don't have so you have to go somewhere else to get it.

The only American supermarket chain I've encountered that I rate as really good is Publix, but unfortunately they're in the SE.
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Old Dec 6th 2012, 6:06 pm
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Default Re: Tesco faces defeat in battle for America

Originally Posted by Steve_
I completely and totally utterly disagree.

I was in the UK last year in a Tesco Xtra
I think you may find the comparison was between a normal tesco store and not tesco Xtra. I've never even been in or heard of a tesco Xtra.
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Old Dec 6th 2012, 6:09 pm
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Default Re: Tesco faces defeat in battle for America

Yes but that was my point really, Tesco today isn't Tesco from years back, they're replacing their stores with these "Xtra" stores that seem to be based on Wal-Mart Super Centers and they're bloody awful. If you haven't been to the UK in awhile your comparison may be off.
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Old Dec 6th 2012, 6:28 pm
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Default Re: Tesco faces defeat in battle for America

Originally Posted by Steve_
Yes but that was my point really, Tesco today isn't Tesco from years back, they're replacing their stores with these "Xtra" stores that seem to be based on Wal-Mart Super Centers and they're bloody awful. If you haven't been to the UK in awhile your comparison may be off.
To clarify (as I had to double check), a Tesco Express is a small, corner shop kind of thing, while a Tesco Extra is a much bigger store carrying probably more non-food than food. Extra/express... not the best choices of suffix.

I always avoided the Tesco Extra in Swindon. Rarely find a parking spot and the place was always wedged inside too. Gridlock in surrounding roads at Christmas. Absolute nightmare.

The F&E are a slightly larger Tesco Express.
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Old Dec 6th 2012, 7:02 pm
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Default Re: Tesco faces defeat in battle for America

Anybody shop at Ralphs?
I went to FnE once and thought it was pretty good but small and variety was ltd so had to make more than one stop for what I needed.
I agree with the other posters who said that WholeFoods and Bristol Farms are good. But while I was living in the UK I found Tesco's had gone down hill and were a bit shabby, maybe just in the area I was living in? M&S over in the UK do have some nice product tho. Just my 2pence
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Old Dec 6th 2012, 7:06 pm
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Default Re: Tesco faces defeat in battle for America

Originally Posted by GeoffM
Within a few miles we have:
- Stater Bros (x3)
- WinCo
- Costco
- Vons
- Albertsons
- Vallarta
- Walmart, Target, SuperTarget if you count these

Yet in every case the supermarket is small and lacks choice. Product X will often only come in brand Y, not brands A, B, and C. If I want a fresh whole chicken then it's Foster Farms in virtually all the supermarkets, and only in 4-5lb size which is small.

Back in the UK in the same radius from my house there was maybe only Asda-Walmart, Tesco, and Sainsburys (plus a scattering of smaller shops). Yet the choice was much better because in each case the supermarket was probably twice the size of the ones around here - maybe bigger. And I'm not counting the non-food bits. I could get a 3lb chicken or a 10lb chicken, or anything in between.

Bell peppers are particularly shite here, nearly always soft and with black bits growing on them. I must admit I wonder how the ones in the UK are preserved though...
In the 1980's, there were about twice the number of companies that owned California supermarkets and all did a good job of competing for customers but all got overloaded with debt due to "Green Mail" and leverage buyouts. By the time "Green Mail" was outlawed in the 1990's, all the California supermarkets were in shambles (including Safeway) and only recently have been showing signs of improvements.

When you compare supermarkets in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul area to California supermarkets, California supermarkets are almost third world.

The same thing occured with department stores in California where about have of them were lost and most that went bankrupt were the best around.

Last edited by Michael; Dec 6th 2012 at 7:09 pm.
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Old Dec 6th 2012, 7:13 pm
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Default Re: Tesco faces defeat in battle for America

Originally Posted by Michael
When you compare supermarkets in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul area to California supermarkets, California supermarkets are almost third world.
That wouldn't surprise me! There are a couple more I missed off that list too. Thing is, if Stater Bros combined their 3 stores into 1 large one, they'd do much better IMHO. They sit in a triangle with the largest distance between just 4 miles.

Walmart have, in the last couple of months, opened two brand new stores, 2.8 miles apart. Crazy.
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Old Dec 6th 2012, 10:28 pm
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Default Re: Tesco faces defeat in battle for America

When I go home to visit the two stores I always run to are Tesco, lots of interesting new pre-packaged foods, and Sainsbury's...but higher level.

Oh...and the desserts that I can't get in the USA....mmmm
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Old Dec 7th 2012, 3:06 am
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Default Re: Tesco faces defeat in battle for America

Just got back from shopping at Trader Joe's. As usual, it was packed with people. And as they are owned by Aldi, it indicates that it is possible for a foreign company to crack the US grocery market.
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Old Dec 7th 2012, 4:50 am
  #41  
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Default Re: Tesco faces defeat in battle for America

I am amused at all the Tesco love. Haven't tried F&E - passed one in Palm Springs but never went in. But the last Tesco I went in seemed to be just piles of frozen crap, prepackaged meals, and sugar-laden crud. The fruit selection was particularly laughable. Maybe it was just that particular Tesco.
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Old Dec 8th 2012, 2:04 am
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Default Re: Tesco faces defeat in battle for America

Originally Posted by AdobePinon
I am amused at all the Tesco love. Haven't tried F&E - passed one in Palm Springs but never went in. But the last Tesco I went in seemed to be just piles of frozen crap, prepackaged meals, and sugar-laden crud. The fruit selection was particularly laughable. Maybe it was just that particular Tesco.
Nope, it's all of them I think. Although I've only been in two Xtra stores so thats not a particularly large sample. I meet people all the time who say they miss Tescos so I made a point of going into two of them last time I was there because I hadn't been in the UK for several years and I can't say I was any better off than going to Loblaw's. F&E is better imo.
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Old Dec 8th 2012, 2:19 am
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Default Re: Tesco faces defeat in battle for America

Originally Posted by AdobePinon
I am amused at all the Tesco love. Haven't tried F&E - passed one in Palm Springs but never went in. But the last Tesco I went in seemed to be just piles of frozen crap, prepackaged meals, and sugar-laden crud. The fruit selection was particularly laughable. Maybe it was just that particular Tesco.
I suspect each persons perspectives are different because we all have different options available here. Me, I live in a rural area which is nice in some ways but is a food desert. If I had a Loblaws, a Wegmans, a Publix, a Trader Joes or a Wholefoods within a hundred miles of where I live, then I wouldn't miss British supermarkets so much (yes even a Tesco)
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Old Dec 8th 2012, 3:31 am
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Default Re: Tesco faces defeat in battle for America

Originally Posted by robin1234
I suspect each persons perspectives are different because we all have different options available here. Me, I live in a rural area which is nice in some ways but is a food desert. If I had a Loblaws, a Wegmans, a Publix, a Trader Joes or a Wholefoods within a hundred miles of where I live, then I wouldn't miss British supermarkets so much (yes even a Tesco)
You have a certain amount of truthiness. I did live in Ohio briefly in the early 90s. Couldn't find a spice of any kind in the grocery stores of the time. Tesco would have been like a city of gold.

Here I am indeed spoiled for choice. Between my home and work: Two Sprouts stores (formerly Sunflower), a Trader Joes, two Whole Foods, two Coops, four farmers' markets, A Natural Grocers (formerly Vitamin Cottage), in addition to the run-of-the-mill Albertsons and Smiths. Albuquerque has three Costcos and a kick-ass international market for when I really need them.

Last time I was in the UK, I had to go to several tiny 'health food stores' to get the stuff I would have bought here, even in Albertsons. That was a real shock to me.
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Old Dec 8th 2012, 11:22 am
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Default Re: Tesco faces defeat in battle for America

Originally Posted by Speedwell
Is it that bad? Out of cities, yes.

Here in Houston (I live in the "second downtown," the Galleria area) we have so many choices that when I go shopping, the first thing I say to myself is, "where is the best place to buy X?". I have four "normal" supermarkets within a mile (five if you include Wal-Mart). Within a short driving distance, we have a few small Hispanic markets, an enormous Hispanic grocery that also has a large "international" section, several butcher shops including halal meat markets, several small "Indo-Pak" markets, two huge Asian supermarkets, an excellent French bakery run by a Vietnamese family, a Japanese grocery, a Polish grocery, and to top that off, an international import supermarket that sells almost everything from everywhere (Pick sausage!! Hooray).

Up in the country, where I go to visit friends, there is a smallish independent supermarket, run by local fundamentalist Christians, that doesn't sell booze. The closest reasonable-sized supermarket is a twenty-minute drive away. (When they go to their country place, they make sure to bring in groceries from the nearest city.) In a college town in central Illinois where I lived for a while, there was exactly one somewhat inferior small independent market; I had to drive to the next town to buy groceries from Wal-Mart.

I don't buy groceries from Wal-Mart anymore. I've been sick from their food too often. Their business model includes pressuring their suppliers to cut costs and cut corners. It is actually quite common for a given supplier to have a product "made for Wal-Mart" that is far inferior to the "identical" product they make for the rest of their customers. Since I know this dual structure extends to food as well as dry goods, I refuse to buy any food at all there, even packaged brand-name stuff. But for many, many people, they're the only game in town.
I know in Florida there was Wal-Mart and then the over priced Publix. Publix is great for coupon deals, but to walk in with a list, it was outrageous.
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