Grocery chain to open two Fresh & Easy stores

Grocery chain to open two Fresh & Easy stores
By Ian Thompson | DAILY REPUBLIC | May 08, 2008

VACAVILLE - The British-owned Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market chain on Thursday announced plans to open two markets in Vacaville next year.

'They will be smaller than a traditional grocery store,' said Brendan Wonnacott, a spokesman for the chain. 'They will be a quick and easy shopping experience, designed to be a neighborhood market offering everything you need. We will also emphasize fresh, wholesome food.

The Fresh & Easy chain is less than a year old, having opened the first of its 61 stores in Southern California in November 2007. Work has already begun on the chain's Fairfield store at Beck Avenue and West Texas Street.

The Vacaville stores are part of a 19-store network planned for the Sacramento area. One will be located at Alamo Drive and Marshall Road, and the other will be at Elmira and Nut Tree roads.

Both locations are older shopping centers that suffered from vacancies and have had problems attracting tenants. Fresh & Easy's expected openings are good news to Vacaville City Hall, which has been trying to fill those centers.

Vacaville Economic Development Director Mike Palumbo said the stores 'fit in perfectly with what we are trying to accomplish to restore and reestablish these shopping centers as viable economic centers.'

See the complete story in the Daily Republic Online.