Fresh & Easy's Sad Farewell Letter

Sad sight tonight at the Glassell Park location of Fresh & Easy. With discounts between 10% and 30%, items are already flying off shelves. The employee I talked to said the store will probably be open for a week or two more, but the good stuff is going away now.

Back in 2007, we wrote about the arrival of Fresh & Easy markets. We were particularly excited about the opening of a nearby location in Glassell Park:

Wasn't too impressed with the food sample booth -- pieces of lettuce with blue cheese dressing (really? On day one, that's your only sample in the entire store? Shouldn't F&E be offering samples of just about everything?) Like TJ's, the produce selection is relatively small (actually, if possible, it's smaller than Trader Joe's). But in other ways -- the sheer variety of both F&E brand and national brand ice creams, for example -- F&E offers much more than TJs.

I was impressed, for the most part, by the prices. And let's face it, another grocery option so close by is a good thing -- and a welcome addition to the working-class Glassell Park neighborhood.

The store is big, but not too big, and simply designed. (The wall that separates F&E from whatever will move in next door is empty and stark.) Majority of the check outs are do-it-youself, although on opening day plenty of F&E employees were on hand to help ring people up.

Ultimately, I think the real draw for F&E will indeed be its ready-to-cook entrees. For dinner, I picked up a Green Curry Thai Chicken rice bowl for $3.99. Good price, good flavor (although I'm still tasting the garlic) -- and there's plenty more to try.

Fresh & Easy could never crack the code with consumers, who I think were confused by the fact that it was a hybrid of Trader Joe's and Ralphs. And maybe the self checkout thing really turned people off. It was impersonal and cold -- the direct opposite of TJ's friendly staff.

I liked having F&E as an option, however, and they still carried some decent ready-to-cook items. But alas, it's all over. A message from the company:

Over the last two years, we have been working hard to build a new Fresh & Easy. We thank you for shopping with us and bringing our products into your home.

As you may have heard, all our stores will be closing over the coming weeks. You may still convert any points you have over 500 and redeem your rewards. However, we will no longer be awarding Friends points on purchases made after 12:00:00am Pacific time on Friday October 23, 2015. Please see our updated Terms and Conditions.

We encourage you to come in and get some of your fresh&easy favorites for the last time.

Thank you for being a loyal friend.

The fresh&easy Team

See our full Fresh & Easy coverage from the past decade here.

Fresh and Easy Finds Its Inner Brit

The discount grocer Fresh & Easy is owned by Britain's Tesco chain, so it makes sense that they would have imported some items from their native land. This is welcome news: When F&E first opened, we bemoaned the lack of British products -- in our eyes, that was part of the original draw of seeing Tesco come to the U.S.

Of course, more imported products (F&E also carries more Mexican, Asian and Indian products as well) is far from the answer to Fresh & Easy's woes. The grocer appears to still be struggling to figure out just what it is, and who it serves. We occasionally shop there, but more as a supplement to our Trader Joe's runs than as a primary market. Once there, I appreciate their mix of in-house and major label items. Its pre-packaged dinner fare is also decent, and something that TJ's doesn't offer. But ultimately there's something missing.

OK, Bob Marley Estate, Maybe You've Gone Too Far

Spotted the other day at Fresh and Easy: Marley Coffee. "Get Up, Stand Up" for your right to three little... cups of coffee. "Waiting in Vain" for a fresh brew? You'll be "Jamming" to the taste and demanding to "Stir It Up" with another batch. You'll want to satisfy your soul... with Marley Coffee.

What's Eating Fresh and Easy?

As one of the people who gave Fresh and Easy a positive review when the supermarket chain opened here last fall, I can nonetheless also understand why they're not doing as well as they'd hoped.

The stores, for starters, are way too industrial and not inviting in the least. They're also, quite simply, an odd size -- bigger than specialty stores like Trader Joe's, but smaller than a typical supermarket. It leaves people wondering, What is this place?

Now that the Tesco-owned chain has halted its ambitious store opening campaign for now, LABizObserved has its own theories. Also, via LABizObserved, here's what the U.K.'s TimesOnline says:

Jim Prevor, one of the most influential commentators on the supermarket sector in the US, added that Tesco's Fresh & Easy chain needed a major strategic overhaul if it was ever going to be a hit with American shoppers. He told The Times: "They are doing horribly. There's no question they have made some mistakes and they are still making them."

Mr Prevor said that Fresh & Easy needed to give far more space to popular American brands rather than use its own brand on most products. He added that packaging had to be cut back and more staff should be American. "Americans are different from Brits and the stores will be more successful if Americans make the decisions," he said. "Besides, Tesco could use the British team back in the UK."

I'm not sure I agree; it's the original products that standout; otherwise, I might as well hit Ralphs or Vons for the usual stuff. They need to play up the original products as an alternative to Trader Joe's: Their chicken tortilla soup is delicious and inexpensive; I also like their blue corn jalapeno crackers. I'm thinking store location, the inside appearance, and a lack of awareness among consumers -- not to mention an identity problem -- are the real culprits. The American brand issue, less so -- it's not a problem, after all, for Trader Joe's.

A Night at the Fresh & Easy: The Recap

The Glassell Park Fresh & Easy at night; the underwhelming inside.


Burgers... and baked goods.


Chicken tortilla soup ($2.99); their version of Pirates Booty: "White Cheddar Pirate's Treasure" ($1.68)


Fat-free milk ($1.78); 7 petite chocolate chip cookies ($1.49)


Pomegranate & blueberry sorbet ($1.98); blue corn & chile lime crackers ($2)


Green Thai-style chicken curry ($3.99); seedless red grapes ($2.43)


Chicken salad ($2.99); whole wheat pizza dough ($0.99).

Great review here on the experience by Rose, who must've been there right around the same time we were. She hits most of the points right -- a nice new grocery alternative, but still somewhat disappointing, particularly given all the build up.

And by the way, this annoys me: Rose writes as a plus: "They mailed out $10 coupons to the neighborhood, which brought in more customers. And after my purchase I received a $6 coupon (on my next purchase over $30)."

Dude, we (a) didn't get those coupons, even though we live just a mile away, and (b) I didn't get a $6 coupon when I checked out. Boo, Fresh & Easy, maybe I was too positive in that last post... I'm getting less and less enthused about the place.

Fresh, Easy and Finally Open

I wanted to hit the brand spankin' new Fresh & Easy in Glassell Park early on Thursday (the store is open 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.), but work duties interfered. So Blogger Toddler and I made it there around 7 p.m. last night to finally get our first taste of U.S. Tesco.

The parking lot was still packed, and by the looks of the inside, it was a successful first day. The ready-to-cook meals were fairly picked over, and the aisles were still bumper-to-bumper with carts, making it tough to navigate. But we did, and got a good idea of what F&E is all about.

First off, there are things that are Trader Joe's-esque (a reliance on store brands, a food sample booth, pizza dough) and things that aren't (there's still a wide selection of national brands, and more traditional grocery items -- like bug spray, or even diapers -- than TJ's).

Wasn't too impressed with the food sample booth -- pieces of lettuce with blue cheese dressing (really? On day one, that's your only sample in the entire store? Shouldn't F&E be offering samples of just about everything?) Like TJ's, the produce selection is relatively small (actually, if possible, it's smaller than Trader Joe's). But in other ways -- the sheer variety of both F&E brand and national brand ice creams, for example -- F&E offers much more than TJs.

I was impressed, for the most part, by the prices. And let's face it, another grocery option so close by is a good thing -- and a welcome addition to the working-class Glassell Park neighborhood.

The store is big, but not too big, and simply designed. (The wall that separates F&E from whatever will move in next door is empty and stark.) Majority of the check outs are do-it-youself, although on opening day plenty of F&E employees were on hand to help ring people up.

Ultimately, I think the real draw for F&E will indeed be its ready-to-cook entrees. For dinner, I picked up a Green Curry Thai Chicken rice bowl for $3.99. Good price, good flavor (although I'm still tasting the garlic) -- and there's plenty more to try.

As for the store brands, like TJs, F&E sells a number of offbeat products -- and interesting flavor combos, such as a blue corn and lime cracker. I think TJs easily still beats F&E for the sheer variety of budget gourmet choices. Disappointed to see that Tesco didn't import any British items -- particularly, candy -- for its F&E stores.

Stay tuned for pics of the store, as well as our initial purchases.

The L.A. Times was out at several F&E stores, and filed this report:

The Fresh & Easy model is simple: The markets are relatively small, at about 10,000 square feet per store, and the advertising campaign includes references to environmentally friendly packaging and food free of artificial colors, flavors and trans fats. Stores are stocked with big names and in-house brands and offer more prepared entrees and side dishes than typical supermarkets.

Some industry watchers have said that Fresh & Easy might change the Southland's grocery-shopping landscape, if only because Tesco plans to open dozens more markets in the region by next year. (The six stores that debuted Thursday are in Anaheim, Arcadia, Hemet, Glassell Park, Upland and West Covina.)

The paper brought "Good Food" host Evan Kleiman to the Glassell Park location; she was quite impressed, and said she'd be back.

One Day to Fresh & Easy

A sneak preview of what the new Fresh & Easy grocery chain -- which opens tomorrow in several spots, including Glassell Park (just around the bend from Franklin Avenue H.Q.).

It's looking more and more like, sadly, there won't be any imported British items from parent Tesco. But nonetheless, we're still excited to see what sort of ready-to-heat food options (apparently a specialty) F&E will be offering. See you there on Thursday! (Nope, we didn't get an invite to the big grand opening party Wednesday.)