Fresh & Easy Store Opens in MB
Green balloons, local dignitaries and a line of customers stretching out the door Wednesday ushered the opening of the South Bay's first Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.
The grocery store, at 1700 Rosecrans Ave. in Manhattan Beach, was the 62nd store opening in the U.S since its introduction in November by British retail giant Tesco, whose American headquarters is in El Segundo.
More significantly, the Manhattan Beach location was the first store opening since the company froze its rollout for three months to reassess its brand and work out supply-chain problems.
"The way we do business is ever so simple. You listen to customers, find out what it is they want and you try to deliver it better than anyone else," said chief marketing officer Simon Uwins, adding, "We've done exactly that."
During the three-month break, Tesco increased its product selection, enlivened stores with more colors and brand messages on the walls and counters and offered more deals to accommodate consumers' shrinking grocery budgets amid the economic downturn.
"There were some who said it felt a little bit cold and sterile," Uwins said. "We went into all our stores and, if you like, warmed them up, telling them about what we're about and adding color."
The customers' feedback came in the form of comment cards, exit surveys and emails to the grocery chain's Web site.
Tesco also has a model store in Hawthorne where it market tests its ideas.
"We developed a brand from the ground-up based on listening to our customers," said Tim Mason, CEO of the U.S. operation.
In a sign of the store opening's importance, Mason was joined at the ceremony by his son and three daughters from England.
Tesco, which began opening locations at a torrid pace last November, will resume its swift rollout. By the end of February, Tesco expects to have about 200 Fresh & Easy stores open, Uwins said. This would include the South Bay's second location, which is scheduled to open within a few months in Harbor City.
The world's third-largest retailer, Tesco plans to spend $2 billion over five years to open hundreds of stores in Southern California, Arizona and Nevada.
Each Fresh & Easy is about the size of a Trader Joe's, offering precooked meals, fresh meats and produce as well as quick checkout like a convenience store.
In a surreal scene during Wednesday's opening ceremony, Tesco employees used cheers to drown out heckles by about two dozen picketing labor activists, whose efforts to unionize the new chain have been rebuffed by Mason.