Fresh & Easy Chain Will Be Sold: Future of Bradshaw Store Unclear

Fresh & Easy, the British-owned supermarket chain that promised to open a store in the Rosemont area but hasn't delivered, will be sold.

Parent company Tesco made the announcement Wednesday, and while Fresh & Easy said it wouldn't close any of its existing stores, it's unclear whether the Bradshaw Road store will ever open for business.

"While we don’t yet know who our new owner will ultimately be, Tesco has already received interest from a number of parties including groups looking to purchase Fresh & Easy as an operating business," Fresh & Easy said on its Facebook page.

A spokesperson from Fresh & Easy has not yet returned an email seeking comment.

Fresh & Easy, which has stores in Arden-Arcade, south Sacramento and Elk Grove, came to the United States in 2007 and was immediately hammered by the economic recession. 

An analyst told the BBC that the stores were poorly suited to the U.S. market.

"Fresh & Easy was very confusing," International Marketing Partners' Allyson Stewart-Allen told the BBC. "You had champagne next to ready meals next to merchandising. It was a very confused proposition for Americans who couldn't work out what exactly they were."

None of its stores have turned a profit, the BBC reported.

The Los Angeles Times and NPR reported that Tesco has 5,000 employees at 200 stores around California, Nevada and Arizona. 

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