PHOENIX, Feb. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Tesco announced today that its new chain of grocery stores in the U.S. will be called "Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market," and formally revealed its new logo, during an event hosted by the Greater Phoenix Economic Council.
The company is focusing on the Greater Phoenix area, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Diego and stores will begin to open later in the year.
"Our company has enjoyed strong success in countries throughout Europe and Asia, and we are excited to bring that success to America," said Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market CEO Tim Mason. "We believe that the Greater Phoenix region is an excellent place to begin that journey."
Twenty sites in the Greater Phoenix area have already been secured and additional locations are being researched. Each of the neighborhood markets will be roughly 10,000 square feet in size -- intentionally smaller than the usual supermarket in order to give customers a faster, easier shopping experience.
Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market already employs 150 people at its headquarters in El Segundo, California and expects to create more than 2,500 new jobs once stores begin opening later this year.
The company chose the Greater Phoenix area for its high population growth and the strong potential of its expanding market.
"The Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market format is designed to draw customers back to their local neighborhoods by offering high quality, fresh and nutritious food at affordable prices," said Mason.
The Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market format is a result of extensive customer research in local U.S. markets combined with the learnings from Tesco's highly innovative Express format which it operates in more than 1,000 stores in seven countries, serving approximately 10 million customers every week.
"We are passionate about being a good neighbor and a good employer," said Mason. "We will recruit locally and play an active role in the neighborhoods where our stores are located."
Underscoring its commitment to being a good neighbor, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is dedicated to environmentally-friendly business practices. It recently announced the installation of a solar panel roofing system at its distribution center that is currently under construction in Riverside, California. At 500,000 square feet, the $13 million project is the largest roof-mounted solar installation in California, and possibly the world. At the store level, waste will be minimized by recycling or reusing all shipping materials and energy consumption will be reduced with modified fridges and lighting.
ABOUT TESCO
Tesco is the UK's largest retailer and one of the world's leading international retailers, operating over 2,800 stores across 12 countries and employing over 370,000 people.
Tesco has grown from a market stall, set up by Jack Cohen in 1919. The name Tesco first appeared above a shop in London in 1929. There have been several phases of growth for Tesco and during the 1990s Tesco was successful in the UK by investing for customers and pioneering many new innovations. For example, the company launched the Clubcard loyalty scheme and Tesco.com which is now the world's leading internet grocery store. In 1995 Tesco started to expand overseas and now operates in Ireland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Turkey, China, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand. Last month the first Tesco-branded store opened in China.
Tesco's success is due in part to delivering a consistently strong customer offer on every visit and every transaction and by focusing on the company's core purpose: to create value for customers to earn their lifetime loyalty.
Tesco
CONTACT: Brendan Wonnacott, +1-916-554-3466, or cell, +1-916-616-3707
