Fresh and Easy

[Cadaverous Pallor]

www.freshandeasy.com

One of these just opened walking distance from us, across the street from our awful Ralphs. We've been watching it go up with high anticipation.

I went in on opening day last Wednesday. For the most part it's fantastic. Name brands when you need them (Heinz, Quaker, Cheerios) and no name brands when you don't (rice, tomato sauce). The balance there is perfect. The prices are competitive - no reason to cross the way to get things for cheaper. They are limited in the number of brand choices and they apparently have room to expand once they acquire more deals (they don't need 5 rows of Cheerios). This is especially noticible in cereal and beer. The beer options aren't horrible - Corona, Hornsby's, even Fat Tire, about 5 decent choices. But we may eventually go elsewhere if we need something different.

We were really hoping for a large veggie selection to feed the bunny, and I was a bit disappointed there. No large bunches of parsley and no carrot tops. They did have various lettuces and other items at great prices but it's obvious we'll have to supplement with trips to Ralphs. I'll mention this the next time I'm in.

They have full aisles of pre-made dinners of varying sizes, some party sized. There was a party sized tray of sausages wrapped in bacon, heh. Lots of choices there and I felt lazier just looking at all of it. They use real-deal ingredients and as little preservatives as possible - real homemade style. I bought their butternut squash soup, thinking of the sweet Trader Joe's version. F&E's is savory instead, and I could taste the onions and garlic - it was lovely. Bread isn't cheaper but it isn't way expensive either - I'd have no trouble buying it here.

They have parking spaces for hybrids, which I think is kind of lame, since I have park further because of it. Their carts are shallow yet wide which make it easy to reach everything in the basket yet are big enough to hold all your food.

There were a million people working there for opening day, being overly helpful of course. I used self checkout and I had a lady "helping" me by bagging my stuff, and thereby messing up the check out (items removed from bagging area). The place is clean, wide aisles, simple displays. They had all the basics, including beauty products, gift wrap, etc. There are banners talking about their environmental choices.

They gave me a free bag which they sell for 20 cents. You are supposed to use it over and over and when it gets worn out they'll give you a new one for free, forever, and recycle the old one. Don't know if I'd remember to use it, but it's worth throwing in the car.

All in all I'm much happier having this there than a TJs, because I'd be more inclined to do all my shopping here. Though I love TJs, they just don't carry what I personally need for an everyday shop. The less we have to hit that Ralphs, the better.

So yay F&E...and we'll see how it goes.

[Gemini Cricket]

CP opens a thread called Fresh and Easy.... uh, no comment.




I've never heard of this chain. Sound interesting.

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by Gemini Cricket

I've never heard of this chain. Sound interesting.

The chain is run by Tesco, Britain's largest grocery chain. There are a lot of naysayers who doubt their chances of success. But F&E is going into this with major plans. For example, the mega warehouse in Southern California can supply up to 400 stores.

[Morrigoon]

Well, Tesco does very well, so chances are they have some idea of what they're doing.

Pricing (judging from their site) looks comparable to TJs. I think if I had one local to me, I'd probably give it a spin. Looks like it could be good.

[wolfy999]

Been to the one Orange County on Lincoln in Anaheim (could be Buena Park) when it first opened.....at that time not impressed at all. I'll give it some time and see if it gets better, but for me it didn't work. TJ's is much more my liking for specialty foods and Ralphs for groceries.

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by Morrigoon

Well, Tesco does very well, so chances are they have some idea of what they're doing.

Just because they do well in Britain does not mean automatic success in the fickle US of A. All of the press that I have read on them so far has not been too optimistic.

[Ghoulish Delight]

So I just took my first trip.

Sadly, I was underwhelmed. Perhaps I was expecting too much, or was just confused on what to expect. What I expected was something in between Trader Joe and a standard market. Namely, I figured it would have some of the higher quality/price competitive types of items that TJ offers, while keeping the advantage of selection that a standard grocery has. On top of that, with a name like "Fresh and Easy", I was kinda figuring on it being a good place for quality fresh ingredients for cooking (as well as bunny food).

Well, it delivers on none of those counts. The produce section, while having some quality organic items, is VERY short on selection and is mostly pricey. Same goes for meat, or any other ingredients I might be looking for if I were, say, coming home from work and stopping by the store to put a meal together. They had nothing to compete with Trader Joe in terms of the selection of quality, delicious snack foods. Passable cheese selection, but the prices were nothing to get excited about, especially compared to Trader Joe's excellent cheese prices. And in terms of overall selection, by choosing a small location (they are purposely limiting the size of the buildings they are moving into), they don't stand a chance of competing with the Ralph's across the street.

I really wanted to like this place. I HATE the Ralph's (and the next closest choice, also a Ralph's). And while there might be a limited reason that I'd choose Fresh and Easy instead (for example, they did seem to have a good selection of ready-to-serve lunch and dinner options), and they can't possibly be worse in terms of service than the Ralph's, there is just too much stuff that Ralph's has and they don't that I purchase regularly.

In the end, I feel like they were trying to create a compromise between supermakerts and Trader Joe, and what came out was a place that just isn't as good at either at their respective specialties.

[Stan4dSteph]

Places like Tesco and Marks & Sparks are a godsend in London where you get screwed on the exchange. Tasty food at affordable prices. They're meant for takeaway convenience meals, not really to get ingredients for your own cooking.

[Not Afraid]

I wasn't terribly overwhelmed with Tesco in London (and the Welsh native I was not very complementary either). But, I know they have big plans here. One of the most surprising locations that they have planned is Compton.

[Morrigoon]

So funny thing... I drove past one coming home tonight. I took a different route home because I was swinging by Best Buy (found the Dragonforce album for my guy), and there it was on Moulton Pkwy and Ridge Route.