Fresh & Easy to Close 14 Stores

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Fresh & Easy will close 14 stores in southern California and other areas as it continues to downsize, according to an Orange County Register report. These include three locations in Fountain Valley, Lake Forest and Seal Beach, Calif., as well as stores in San Diego, Los Angeles, Arizona and Las Vegas.

"Fresh & Easy is closing a small number of underperforming locations," stated company spokesman Brendan Wonnacott. "While recent initiatives have helped drive additional sales across the Fresh & Easy business, in the case of these locations the progress was not enough to bring their performance in line with the rest of the business."

This follows the closing of 55 Fresh & Easy stores in three states earlier in 2015, including four in Orange County, Calif. At the time, the company planned for the closures to allow it to redeploy capital into development and growth, according to the report.

Since its 2013 acquisition by The Yucaipa Cos. LLC, El Segundo, Calif.-based Fresh & Easy has launched a "Smarter Market" fresh food convenience store model and is working with design firm ADMI to design the Fresh & Easy store of the future, as CSNews Online previously reported.

The company will have fewer than 100 locations in California, Arizona and Nevada following the closings.