Fresh & Easy Now Open at Shea & Scottsdale (Phoenix: work, organic)

[ivanabacowboy]

The Fresh & Easy at Shea & Scottsdale (south west corner) opened today. It was absolutely mobbed at about 4 pm! You would think people had never seen a grocery store before.

This is all so foreign to me. Where I came from (Cleveland) we had only 1 real grocery chain left of note on the west side of town. And they didnt plunk stores on every corner. Out here there are so many grocery stores! (Which are trumped only by the absolutely mind-boggling number of restaurants around here....) You would think all folks did in Phoenix was eat lol!

I don't think I will replace all my preferred shopping haunts to go here, but it is always nice to have options.

[MalteseJane]

What kind of grocery store is Fresh & Easy ?
You would be even more shocked at the number of restaurants you find in Houston. One thing I will be missing after our move to Phoenix is some of the groceries stores from here, like Central Market and our huge Spec's liquor store with specialty products from Europe.

[ibarrio]

Fresh and Easy is part of UK-based retailer Tesco. It is part of their expansion into the USA.

[nitram]

F&E stores basically are smaller neighborhood grocery stores that cater to the quick stop from work to pick up something fast type store. They fill a niche between the one time mom and pop stores and the larger grocers like Fry's/Safeway/Albertson's etal.
Here's their web site: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market™

[sablebaby]

They are popping up everywhere in the metro Phx area.

I think they are a novelty in the beginning. I stopped shopping there due to their food expiring in a day or two. I wasted so much food in the few months of shopping there.

[twiggy]

Fresh and nasty. (kids gave it a nick name) I hate that place, things taste nasty there and are old. I heard it was from the same company that does Walmart?
There is a weird vibe in there as well. Anyone else notice this?
We have a lot of people to feed here, you could have a store on every corner and it would still sell food. oh, wait, we do, hahahahhaha

[ibarrio]

Originally Posted by twiggy

Fresh and nasty. (kids gave it a nick name) I hate that place, things taste nasty there and are old. I heard it was from the same company that does Walmart?
There is a weird vibe in there as well. Anyone else notice this?
We have a lot of people to feed here, you could have a store on every corner and it would still sell food. oh, wait, we do, hahahahhaha

Not part of Walmart, They are part of UK Giant Tesco.

You are thinking of the new Wal-Mart Neighborhood Markets that are also popping up all over the city.

[joninaz]

They had a great deal on meat last week at every store - 4 burger patties, 4 italian sausages and 8 pieces of chicken for $4 something. I can't eat that much at once, so I ground up the beef and sauasges to make a great pasta sauce and froze it in portions. BBQd the chicken and have been having it all week. Probably will get 12 meals out of that one purchase. Not sure if that special is still on, but if having a BBQ this weekend, you can feed several people for a fiver!

[silverbear]

F&E sets its expiration dates very aggressively and then discounts products once those dates pass. Don't take the expiration dates too literally. I've purchased many F&E products that I've not eaten until a week after the expiration date and never had a problem. Sunday night is a particulary good time to find bargains at F&E in the produce and baked goods areas because merchandise that has not sold during the weekend is marked down to make way for new food coming in during the week. I'm a fan of the store and continue to shop there regularly.

[fcorrales80]

Fresh and Easy also follows a more "British" regiment of shopping. A quick stop after work and must be prepared the same day or soon after. In Europe, GE and GA (genetically eningeered/genetically altered) food is illegal. Therefore, the food in Europe AND at American Fresh and Easy stores are organic, have no preservatives, and therefore will expire and go bad much more quickly when compared with typical American produce. Corn syrup, preservatives, and other "additives" that Americans are used to are also banned in Europe.