apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

From la.foodblogger comments:
i didnt like that ALL of the produce is individually packaged in plastic…

Ugh. I won't shop at a store that does this. Not only is it not-green to use all that plastic, it means customers can't inspect the produce properly before buying, so you're stuck with whatever hidden brown spots the store felt like wishing on you.

Fortunately, they pretty much ignored the good urban neighborhoods here in favor of dropping a couple stores in sketchy places, then heading to the far suburbs, so they won't be our nearest market by a long shot.

Tesco are such a huge, corporate monolith that I would hesitate to say that there is absolutely nothing green about them whatsoever that they have not been forced to comply with by market forces alone without adding "allegedly" (ho, ho). Being compared to Trader Joe's is inexplicable - they are our Wall-mart. (Did they advertise, I wonder.) I'm sure they are nice stores, but they are out of place on the "Green" site. If they are aiming for this market it is to put your Farmer's market's out of business...

I've just read the "packaged in plastic" comment above and am laughing, long, loud - and hollowly.

Whoops. This is the Kitchen site. Well there you go.

In that case as the largest UK supermarket chain by far who also do loans, insurance, holidays, you name it. They are expert at giving the consumer what they want.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4435339.stm

Dumb name."Fresh and Easy" sounds like it should be a brand of sanitary napkin.

Went there this weekend and I was truly dissappointed. Most things are individually wrapped as stated by wende in phoenix. I wanted to like the market so much that I rationalized the packaging away by saying to myself I would put the produce in plastic bags anyway. Another thing is the store is very sterile, displays of products are sort of like the way you find them in Costco, still in their bulk boxes, trimmed down so you can see the cans or bags of product. Unlike Trader Joe's, they carry major national brands of soda, toothpaste, and household goods. Prices were average, and when you're through shopping, you check yourself out by scanning barcodes at a register. My review of the place is so so.

As much as I love Trader Joe's, it should be pointed out that it is owned by huge multinational German grocery chain Aldi, so this pretty much is comparing apples to apples...

Rather, a genetically modified, plastic wrapped, melon with a fertilized tomato.

I heard an article about the stores on NPR a while ago, and apparently they're making a huge effort to go into the lower-income urban neighborhoods that get ignored by all the huge supermarket chains. If that's what they're doing, I think it's great - Because these poorer neighborhoods have been so ignored, people can only buy food at the convenience stores or fast-food restaurants that do bother to open up there- They can't afford (time or money) to get themselves out to the suburbs where the larger grocery stores with wider selections are, so they're limited to really junky foods, and that contributes to a lot of the health problems in the lower-income urban population. So if Fresh & Easy is getting fresh veggies to this group of people, I think that's a positive thing. Yes, I know they're only doing it because they think they can make a profit on it, and if they're packaging is not green, then that's a problem, but I'm hoping that this is the start of people realizing that if we want poor people to start loosing weight/ stop getting diabetes, etc, we need to make sure they have the opportunity to buy something other than KFC and canned soup.

Hmmmm... addressing low-income urban neighborhoods is not their strategy in Phoenix.

19 locations are in the middle-class commuting suburbs.
1 is in the most affluent part of Scottsdale.
3 are in moderately affluent inner-ring suburbs.
4 are in less affluent neighborhoods that are already served by other supermarkets (usually local chain Food City (a real grocery store that sells produce and other raw ingredients, but in at least one case, there's a Safeway and a Basha's within a short walk).

Oddly Fresh & Easy was promoted here as an upscale urban shopping experience, which their locations also don't fit.

@deoxy, yes that's true but Aldi has a strategy and a vision that has allow them to stick with the one of Mr Joe Coulombe (Mr trader Joes in person), and thus maintaining TJ's operations as it was in the beginning. VERY interesting book im reading about TJ's adventure. i will suggest it as holiday gift to anybody that is curious about how/when TJ started.

it makes you wanna go there immediately and buy everythign (like we dont already do that!)
happy thanksgiving.

"…fewer than ten of the 98 stores already signed by Tesco in the US are in high-poverty areas” (The Times)
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article2189609.ece

“farmers [who] accused the supermarket giant of treating British producers in a "ruthless" way by driving down prices to rock-bottom levels” (The Independent)
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/news/article43619.ece

“ [Tesco’s] uncontrolled growth is destroying our town centres by putting local shops out of business and leaving the public with less choice on where to shop” (Friends of the Earth)
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/press_releases/tesco_growth_must_be_check_12042005.html

"by no means the Rolls-Royce of the private medical insurance market in the level of cover offered, nor is it always the cheapest," (Financial Times)
http://www.ftadviser.co.uk/dt_general.aspx?m=11202&amid=107869

Though I’m sure by the way I’m going at it you are all desperate to shop there now, even before you have to. I’ll never make a politician. So I’ll try and stop.

(Fresh and Wild btw WAS the name of the organic supermarket chain over here now owned by Wholefoods.)

Check out the report mentioned in the top article Lesley linked to
http://departments.oxy.edu/uepi/publications/tesco_update.pdf

60% of the stores are in census tracts with median incomes higher than the county average. 73% are in tracts where the poverty rate is lower than the county average.

NPR should have checked their facts more carefully.