Fresh & Easy store count climbs, but Tesco keeps results to itself, for now

Fresh & Easy has opened 33 grocery markets throughout Southern California and in Nevada and Arizona as of Jan. 23, according to the company, a subsidiary of U.K.-based Tesco, which said it has invested $2 billion over five years in Fresh & Easy.
As to how well the stores are performing, Tesco isn’t saying, just yet.
The retailer decided against releasing comprehensive sales figures for its fledgling U.S. business until next year, according to a Jan. 28 article by James Quinn and Mark Kleinman in The Telegraph, a U.K. newspaper. The article noted that the decision comes “amid skepticism that it can mount a serious challenge to Wal-Mart's dominance” of the U.S. market.
Jim Prevor, a food writer and blogger (perishablepundit.com) wrote online, “My assessment is that from the customer count and the dollars being spent, it is not possible to make the enterprise profitable."
The first store opened in November 2007 on the West Coast. In its January trading update Tesco said that "interest" in Fresh & Easy had been "encouraging" but declined to give any guidance on the stores' early sales performance, The Telegraph article noted. Tesco has said that sales figures for the first 18 months are "meaningless" while Fresh & Easy is established, The Telegraph reported.
Meanwhile, the retailer forges ahead with store openings. On Jan. 23 a Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market opened in Hollywood, Calif., across the street from the Roosevelt Hotel and close to the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Each Fresh & Easy store employs approximately 20 to 30 people, according to the company, which said it “intends all store employees will work 20 hours a week or more, and be eligible for comprehensive healthcare and other benefits. Entry-level positions will pay well over the minimum wage, starting at $10 an hour in California, and offer a quarterly bonus.”

Willard Bishop Consulting issued a report this month that focuses in part on Tesco’s venture into the Phoenix market. Titled “Phoenix: The New Battleground for Express Format Food Stores,” the report was written by Jim Hertel. It forecasts an especially fierce battle between Tesco and Wal-Mart in Phoenix because both companies are opening multiple stores there.