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Written in the April 7, 2008 edition of USA Today, Fresh & Easy, the world’s third-largest retailer, is working on a supermarket British Invasion (video clip featured). “The WalMart of Britain” has plans thru 2020 aiming at giving grocery giant Safeway a run for its money. Research firm TNS Retail Forward details that their most important selling point is price as they claim to be up to 30% cheaper then conventional U.S. market chains. But they insist they are dedicated to being “neighborhood grocers”.
The story covers flagship stores in California, starting with one a few doors down from the world-famous Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. Before Safe & Easy started working the states, they spent a lot of time examining the lives of 60 U.S. families, following them through their day and more importantly, through their retail shopping activities. Thus far, overall sales don’t meet projects, but sales of “to-go” foods have been more than double of expectations which supports the ongoing debate of cooking at home versus eating out, with “to-go” the in-between.
Reminds me of a past bookmarked article titled “For not that much more, Americans opting to eat out” which dances in and around the debate, whether eating out is really more expensive then eating in. One interviewee said “It’s this cellphone generation that’s too busy to cook…” It’s interesting how people disect the economics of getting food on their plate. Value and savings are in the eye of the beholder.
