Report: Fresh & Easy Not Meeting Sales Goals

New York An industry consultant said that Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market stores have not yet come close to achieving the sales levels Tesco officials were originally hoping for, according to supermarketnews.com.

Speaking on Wednesday with investors in the United States and United Kingdom in a conference call sponsored by New York-based Citigroup, Jim Prevor said the 52 Fresh & Easy stores that have opened since November are averaging weekly sales volumes of $50,000 to $60,000, or about $5 per square foot—below the goal of $200,000 a week and $14-$22 in sales per square foot the company had projected.

Prevor said the volume estimates are based on discussions with competitors, vendors, industry observers and Fresh & Easy store managers.

In other news, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood on Thursday opened the doors to its 50th store in Palm Desert, California.

Last month, the company announced an expansion into Northern California, with 18 stores in the Bay Area slated to begin opening in 2009.

Fresh & Easy will open an additional three stores by the end of the week—one in North Las Vegas and two in Henderson, Nev. An announcement of store locations in the Sacramento region will occur by the end of the month.