Tesco unveils Fresh & Easy expansion plans

Source: Exec Digital UK

Date :03/12/2007 09:18:04

Following the opening of its first American stores near Los Angeles three weeks ago, Tesco has unveiled plans to extend its Fresh & Easy convenience chain.

The move is part of the supermarket’s expansion drive in the U.S. which will see it open 1,000 stores and generate nearly $10 billion (£4.9 billion) of annual sales according to forecasts by retail consultant TNS.

The group is also in talks to open a second distribution centre in Stockton in northern California that could service up to 500 Fresh & Easy stores.

The existing stores are supplied by its 600,000 sq ft distribution centre in Riverside, South California where the supermarket sells its own organic food and ready meals rather than sourcing them in.

Fresh & Easy claims to be as much as 25 percent cheaper than its man industry rivals such as Trader Joe's, Ralphs and Albertson's.

Retail transformation

So far it has already opened 15 stores in the U.S. around Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Diego with plan to open further stores in Phoenix, Arizona this week.

Tim Mason, Fresh & Easy’s chief executive said that the expansion plans would be ‘transformational’ for the Tesco. “If Fresh & Easy is successful, it will be the most exciting thing in retail, bar none,” he said.

The latest expansion plan come amid the Tesco’s dispute with Health First, a trade union backed environmental group, who last week won a legal case ruling Tesco's Riverside warehouse did not comply with environmental law.

Tesco already operates in twelve countries outside the UK including South Korea and Thailand. It has pledged to open a further 200 stores by February 2009 with plans to move to the East Coast.

December 3, 2007