First Fresh & Easy Express Opens in L.A.

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market opened its first Fresh & Easy Express store this week. The 3,000-square-feet store, at the corner of La Cienega Boulevard and 18th Street in Los Angeles, is less than a third the size of the retailer’s standard 10,000-square-feet model, sells approximately 2,700 SKUs vs. the usual 5,500, and has five aisles rather than eight, according to media reports.

Tesco-owned Fresh & Easy plans to open several more Express stores in Southern California in an effort to test if it can expand the banner into more densely-populated areas.

“We’re always looking to serve more neighborhoods, and these stores should help us venture into neighborhoods that cannot accommodate a standard 10,000-square-foot store, and/or are particularly more densely populated where property price is at a premium,” Fresh & Easy spokesperson Brendan Wonnacott told Progressive Grocer.

“The Express store looks and feels very similar to our standard F&E store and offers everything that our customers have come to love about Fresh & Easy, just in a smaller footprint.”

As with traditional Fresh & Easy stores, the Fresh & Easy Express stores are 100-percent assisted checkout.

“So far, reception has been fantastic,” added Wonnacott. “There’s been lots of excitement about the store and offering.”