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Fresh & Easy On Closing Rumors: 'We're going to keep on fighting the good food fight'
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Photo by Lindsay William-Ross/LAist
It's been a few weeks since word began to circulate that Fresh & Easy was "likely" to sell off or close down their stores, but the UK-parented grocery chain has remained largely mum on the subject.
Today they've sent out an e-mail message to the members of their loyalty program, Fresh & Easy Friends, to take on the rumors head-on.
F&E explains that their parent company, Tesco, is "conducting a strategic review" of their stores, and they are "looking at all options to find the best outcome" for the stores. The store admits they don't know what that outcome will be, or if Tesco is indeed going to bail and sell off their interest in the U.S. chain based in SoCal.
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The one point they want to drive home, though, is that, at least for now, they aren't going to close any of their stores. So in the meantime, while the big wigs are sorting out their bottom lines, you can still cruise their aisles and get your fill of F&E's foodstuffs.
Fresh & Easy opened their first stores in 2007 in California, on a mission to, in part, enter areas considered "food deserts," where access was limited or non-existent to fresh foods. Though they soon began to enter more competitive markets, the chain has had a wobbly tenure amidst SoCal grocery powerhouses, from the big guys like Ralphs and Vons to the more niche-oriented Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.
Over the years, Fresh & Easy has worked hard to change initial impressions their stores were short on selection, and has expanded their ready-made food offerings, as well as brought in more mainstream name brands. Current fans of the chain can continue to enjoy their shopping while they can, and maybe the chain can get some new "friends" in the interim.
Here's the e-mail to their Friends members in full:
Thank you for being a Friend of Fresh & Easy. We wanted to reach out to you to address numerous news and online reports about the future of our stores. Our parent company Tesco is conducting a strategic review of Fresh & Easy - they're looking at all options to find the best outcome for the neighborhood market that you - and we - have come to love. While we don't know exactly what that outcome will be, or if Tesco will continue to own the company, we're confident that Fresh & Easy can continue to be your favorite market.
We want to assure you: we don't have plans to close stores. We're still committed to providing delicious, wholesome and affordable food every day. We're still Fresh & Easy; open for business with everything that you enjoy about our store, with even more exciting things to come. That's why we're going to keep on fighting the good food fight.
Now, more than ever, we appreciate your energy in our stores and being able to share a smile with you. We look forward to seeing you soon and thank you for your continued support.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
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