Jensen’s Fine Foods is coming to the former Fresh & Easy space at Talbot and Catalina boulevards in Point Loma, with an anticipated fall opening. That’s if all goes well with permitting, said Matt Zack, Jensen’s vice-president and general manager.
“It’s going to take us some time,” said Zack. “We’re probably looking at September, hopefully.”
Zack had an interesting story to relate about how Jensen’s caught wind that the old Fresh & Easy space was available. “I was notified by a Point Loma resident who resides part-time here in Palm Springs who said the location would be a perfect fit,” Zack said.
A Chargers season ticket holder with a brother in the grocery business in San Diego, Zack said his sibling checked out the site and immediately told him, “You need to come check this out.”
Zack said of his reaction when he visited the Catalina site, “This has got our name all over it: a small, tight-knit, very-loyal community.”
Of what to expect with the new Jensen’s, Zack said, “We’re a grocery store with full-service meat, deli and produce departments. Whereas Fresh & Easy’s selection was limited and their meat quality somewhat lacking, we will have more selection and variety.”
Zack talked about what his independent grocery chain prides itself on.
“Service is the critical component,” he said. “It’s something we hang our hat on.”
Thus far, Zack is more than pleased with the local reaction to Jensen’s coming.
“It’s really been amazing the local support we’ve received from the residents,” he said. “It’s just heartwarming.”
The lease for the space was sold recently to CVS Pharmacy through a bankruptcy court in Delaware. There is an existing small business, Point Loma Cabrillo Drug, in the same shopping center.
When it was learned CVS might acquire the site, outraged neighbors, wanting a grocery store there, not a pharmacy, immediately started an online petition drive on change.org, which ultimately secured the desired result.