Listen to an in-depth interview with Brendan Wonnacott, communications director for Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market. See the RetailWire Podcast below...
Before Tesco opened its first Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, there were plenty of people willing to predict it would rewrite the rules of retailing in the U.S. When the company hit some bumps in the road, there were just as many or more willing to claim it was just another British venture that wouldn't make it in the States.
While there's little question Fresh & Easy has faced challenges, company executives believe the right steps are being taken to help it achieve its top and bottom line goals. The chain, which now operates 159 stores and is on schedule to open roughly one a week, is continuing to focus on putting its stores in locations where locals need them. Fresh & Easy is looking to Northern California as its next market for expansion.
"People are really looking for a good opportunity to do shopping, right
in their neighborhoods, right by where they live -- fresh food at low prices,
an easy shopping experience," Brendan Wonnacott, communications director
for Fresh & Easy, told RetailWire. "For us now, two and half
years in, we are keeping up with our pace, and are really focused on serving
the communities we are in -- and slowly branching out to more communities in
California."
Among the communities where Fresh & Easy is looking to open are so-called food deserts that others have avoided due to high crime rates and other factors.
"We had our job fair for the South LA store earlier this year. We had hundreds of people show up. We are just now coming up on our hundred-day anniversary of the store opening and we've really seen it's changed the lives of many folks that live around that store," said Mr. Wonnacott. "What we see is that people want access, that they want to be able to buy fresh produce, meats, eggs and cheese. And those are indeed the top selling products in those stores and we've been very excited about the performance of those stores across the board."
Fresh & Easy believes the smaller footprint of its stores gives it an edge.
"We are able (because of store size) to get back to a lot of areas that haven't had a lot of access. The first store we opened in a neighborhood called Glassell Park here in Los Angeles hadn't had a grocery store in, I think, a decade or two."
Location and smaller stores, according to Mr. Wonnacott, have other advantages.
"Our stores are about 30 percent more energy efficient than a traditional supermarket of similar size, so we spend less on energy and we are able to keep our prices low because of that," he told RetailWire. "Another bit that's important for us is where we are located -- Southern California, Arizona, Nevada. We have access to an immense amount of great products here, and depending on season as much as 70 percent of our produce comes from the states we operate in."
Discussion Question: Where do you see the greatest opportunities for Fresh & Easy's business? Do you think the chain's willingness to open stores in under-served areas will help it reach its goals more quickly? Will we see other large traditional grocers building stores in these areas, as well?