Fresh & Easy Grocery Chain is Closing Stores
Posted on October 26, 2015
The Fresh & Easy grocery chain is closing down stores after failing to find a buyer. The chain was a venture into the U.S. market for the first time by Tesco, a large British supermarket chain. The first stores opened in 2007.
Fresh & Easy is running ads about store closings promising up to 30% off everything and declaring that "everything must go." The grocery chain closed 50 stores earlier this year. It has 97 remaining stores in three states, California, Nevada and Arizona.
Fresh & Easy spokesman Brendan Wonnacott said in a statement, "Over the last two years, we have been working hard to build a new Fresh & Easy. While we made progress on stemming our losses and moving the business closer to break even, unfortunately we have been unable to obtain financing and the liquidity necessary to continue to fund the business going forward. As we start the process for an organized wind-down of the business, we continue to work to sell all or part of the business."
An L.A. Times story says the chain is still holding out hope for a buyer. The article says the stores had some local fans but the they were not profitable. They face competition from the big chains like Wal-Mart and Target as well as smaller stores like Trader Joe's.