Fresh & Easy says slowdown intentional

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. After months of aggressive store openings, Tesco is slowing down its growth of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market stores in the United States, saying it is "pausing for breath." The announcement was made on March 26 on Fresh & Easy's blog, following a number of reports claiming that the reason for the slowdown was because Tesco was not meeting its U.S. sales projections.

"After opening our first 50, we planned to have a 3 month break from openings, and other than a couple more in Phoenix, we're taking it (albeit, in our usual fashion, with 59 stores already open)," said the blog post.

The post also follows reports that the company still plans to open a number of stores. Adam Mayfield, Fresh & Easy's director of real estate, said at a retail conference that it could easily open 100 stores in the Arizona Valley.

Previously, the company has said that it would operate only 160 locations in Arizona, California and Nevada, including 37 stores in the Valley.

Fresh & Easy now has 37 announced locations in Arizona. The company currently has 58 grocery markets open throughout Southern California, Arizona and Nevada. The company is a subsidiary of U.K.-based Tesco, one of the world's largest international retailers, which has invested $2 billion over five years in Fresh & Easy.