Jessica, having been a Tesco shopper for many years in a former life, tackles this one in the first person.
Tesco was a somewhat down-market chain in the U.K. back in the '80s (once, when my mom reported seeing mice scurrying around, the staff shrugged and ignored her). It's now a huge chain, the largest retail company in the U.K., and it has successfully adapted, in the home market, to whatever the local neighborhood is best suited to, from huge superstores to small high-street "Tesco Metro" stores that sell a little bit of everything you might need to pick up on the way to/from work, from toilet paper and batteries to newspapers and magazines, fresh-baked bread and pastries to beer and champagne, curry paste and gourmet chocolate to Perrier water and fresh-fruit smoothies, hummus and pita bread to mangoes and zucchini -- and Anthony Curtis' son's favorite potato chips, which he discovered on a trip across the pond, namely Hula Hoops.
Now, Tesco is planning a British invasion of the American Southwest.
The company has unveiled plans to open 15 grocery stores in Las Vegas starting this fall, plus another 85 stores in L.A., San Diego, and Phoenix. The Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets will introduce a whole new supermarket concept, described as "a cross between Whole Foods, a supermarket, and 7-Eleven."
Open 8 am to 10 pm, the grocery stores will sell fresh, wholesome, and pre-prepared food items (though no tobacco products) in a convenience-store format; the store size will be twice as large as a 7-Eleven, though about one-fifth the size of a typical supermarket. The nearest Fresh & Easy market to the Strip will be at the corner of West Tropicana and Jones. I'm interested to see what it looks like and how it works out.
