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When Fresh & Easy came to Phoenix I was rather excited.
They sold a lot of Indian and Oriental foods.
But their prices are high and the other stuff they sell isn't much
different then the products in their competitors stores.
And of course they stopped selling a lot of their Indian and Oriental products which made me an unhappy customer. So I am not surprised that they are losing money. But wow! Almost a third of a billion dollar loss ($307 million). That is a nice chunk of change!. Fresh & Easy losses climb by Max Jarman - Apr. 19, 2011 04:39 PM The Arizona Republic Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market suffered heavy losses during the past year, despite gaining traction with shoppers. The U.S. operating arm of British retailer Tesco plc said Tuesday that it lost $307 million in the fiscal year that ended Feb. 26, up from a $253 million loss posted a year earlier. Tesco acknowledged the loss was greater than expected and attributed it to the acquisition and integration of two food suppliers, 2 Sisters and Wild Rocket Foods. Revenue grew 42 percent to $818 million as the company opened new stores and gained customers. Sales at comparable stores open one year or more grew 9.4 percent during the year. "Customer feedback remains excellent and our clear objective now is to accelerate the strong growth in customer numbers we are seeing," Tesco CEO Philip Clarke said. He noted that the loss is expected to substantially narrow in the coming year as the company moves closer to a break-even point. Fresh & Easy has 172 stores in Arizona, Nevada and California and, due to operating efficiencies, has revised its break-even point to 300 stores from previous estimates of 400. Tesco entered the U.S. in 2007 with an initial rollout of stores in metro Phoenix, Las Vegas and Southern California. Fresh & Easy planned to have hundreds of stores open within a few years, but curtailed its expansion due to the economic downturn. Last year the company mothballed 13 stores in areas hard hit by the economic downturn, including six in metro Phoenix. The company plans to resume its expansion by opening 50 new stores this year. Fresh & Easy spokesman Brendan Wonnacott said the new store locations have not been announced. He could not say how many may be in Arizona, where the company has 28 stores. |