This is similar to a post I made to another forum. I am repeating it
here, instead of cross posting. It applies to the folk living in the SW
part of the country, though the expansion plans of the new chain are to
eventually hit all major markets, I've read.
------------------------------------------

Some of you who live in Las Vegas, or might be visiting in a timeshare
where you do a little cooking, might be interested in our local Fresh &
Easy grocery stores. They're an experimental subsidiary of the largest
European supermarket chain, and are trying to develop stores in CA, NV
and AZ that combine the convenience of a mini mart with the ready to
cook food of a grocery store's deli and the "natural" foods concept of
TJ's or Whole Foods. The prices I've seen are in the range of TJ's and
far less than Whole Foods.

They date everything, so you can be reasonably assured that the food is
within its shelf life. Mrs. Nonny and I usually have meals for just
ourselves or one other, so we prefer smaller portions of food that I
don't have to screw around a long time preparing. For instance, I
scored two 6-oz. fresh, never frozen, albacore tuna steaks for dinner
tonight for $6.99/# and a pound of fresh cut fruit salad for about
$2.50. It's not just about the price, but also the convenience. The
stores are smaller than even the smallest Albertson's or Smith's, but
much larger than a "Quickie Mart," while offering a fine selection of
most foods.

I posted here before about my love for the Motherlode cake sold at Claim
Jumper's. Well, Fresh & Easy has a prepared dessert section that has
some really incredible foods like sp tres leches or dulce de leche in
individual servings, tira misu and several other offerings. They're
fresh, dated and in just the right size for one or two people. Like
many of the Fresh & Easy prepared items, they're prepared at a
commissary and delivered fresh daily to the stores, I suspect.

The size of the stores is just right, IMHO. The layout still "sucks" as
my kids say, in that you have to go clear to the back of the store to
get milk and other most frequently needed items. However, the size
means that the back of the store is more like the front of an
Albertson's or Smith's, and you don't need to crawl over lawn furniture,
grills, Christmas decorations and pool supplies to get a dozen eggs a
quarter of a mile back in the store. I like that. The stores are not
intended to replace the mega grocery stores, but to provide an easy
place to grab what you probably will need for a good supper, while being
assured that it's both fresh and probably not chemically enhanced.

Sam's Club cut the heart out of many smaller retailers by mass purchases
and no frill sales of the most commonly purchased items. For instance,
Sam's or Costco buy the most popular "Chevrolet" type of washers, dryers
and refrigerators, leaving just the very bottom and top ends of the
lines for the local merchants to sell competitively. Fresh & Easy seems
to be going after the big chains with their pared down selection of the
most commonly desired foods in the most commonly desired sizes of
packaging. They are also obviously targeting Trader Joe, Whole Foods
and similar "natural" food stores with similar items at lower prices
than most of the "natural" foodstores.

Like Trader Joe's (TJ's) they offer most things under their own Fresh &
Easy label, but also have brand named products. The selection seems
pretty logical and they merely offer a smaller selection. For instance,
there might be 4-6 types of breakfast cereal in medium sized boxes
instead of an entire aisle of 200 selections in 3 different sized boxes.
I like that. Likewise, they might offer 4-5 cuts of beef instead of
the entire selection and the sizes are typically proportioned for 2-3
servings.

To me, it means that when I'm not smoking an entire butt, 4 racks of
ribs, a couple chickens etc., I can buy and cook excellent food here at
the house for Mrs. Nonny without having too much in the way of
leftovers. I suspect that would also really appeal to folk doing a week
or two in a timeshare.



--
Nonny

Nonnymus
Never believe a person who is
Drunk, Horny or Running for Office.