{"id":243898,"date":"2010-10-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-10-01T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/thinking-outside-the-big-box-fresh-and-easy-opens-its-doors-in-north-park\/"},"modified":"2010-10-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-10-01T07:00:00","slug":"thinking-outside-the-big-box-fresh-and-easy-opens-its-doors-in-north-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/thinking-outside-the-big-box-fresh-and-easy-opens-its-doors-in-north-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Pensando fuera de la caja grande: Fresh and Easy abre sus puertas en North Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Margie Palmer\/<\/strong>Reportero SDUN<\/p>\n

\"Thinking<\/a>
The line at the opening of North Park's new Fresh & Easy grocery store stretched out the door. (Margie Palmer\/SDUN)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has opened its doors to the public, bringing eco-friendly design and low-cost food options to local residents. Located at 32nd\u00a0Street and University Avenue, the retailer has brought both jobs and healthy food options to the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are happy to see Fresh & Easy continue to expand and hire in San Diego, bringing more nutritious and affordable food options to our neighborhoods,\u201d said San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders, who attended the grand opening.<\/p>\n

The North Park store is one of eight the retailer has opened in the month of September.\u00a0In total, the company created 180 jobs\u00a0last month.<\/p>\n

Owned by U.K.-based Tesco, Fresh & Easy has made a name for itself through marketing the green nature of its stores. According to company representatives, on average, Fresh & Easy stores use 30 percent less energy than a typical supermarket. They also use LED lighting in external signs and freezer cases, and advanced refrigeration and freezer units to cut back on energy usage.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Because of this, the company is able to sell items at a lower cost to customers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe fundamentally believe every family deserves access to fresh, wholesome food at affordable prices,\u201d said Fresh & Easy CEO Tim Mason. \u201cEverything we do derives from listening to our customers, and one thing we\u2019ve heard consistently from parents is that they are looking for ways to feed their children high-quality, nutritious foods without stretching their budgets.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to saving residents money on their grocery bill, the store has also contributed to the revitalization of North Park, an initiative that was spearheaded by North Park Main Street business improvement district several years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cFresh & Easy is a strong anchor tenant,\u201d said Elizabeth Studebaker, executive director of North Park Main Street.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s almost like a bookend on the east end of North Park\u2019s commercial district.\u00a0The space they occupy had previously been an empty lot and an auto-repair facility, but now there is a US Bank, a UPS store and an ATT wireless store.\u00a0These are all places which will suit the needs of the surrounding residential area.\u201d<\/p>\n

San Diego District 3 City Councilman Todd Gloria agrees.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can only add to the location at 32Dakota del Norte<\/sup> and University,\u201d Gloria said.\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s very valuable and I hope it will help us with revitalizing the area to the east of the [Interstate] 805 as well. Fresh & Easy not only provides more access to groceries, but it\u2019s on a size and scale appropriate for the neighborhood because it\u2019s not a big box retailer.\u00a0It brings balance to North Park\u2019s business district, which is important.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Thinking<\/a>
Herb K. Schultz (l), regional director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, with Fresh & Easy CEO Tim Mason at the store's Sept. 22 opening. Schultz accepted a $1,000 check from the company for Reality Changers, a program that helps at-risk teens attend college. (Margie Palmer\/SDUN) <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fresh & Easy communications director Brendan Wonnacott feels one of the most important factors in the store\u2019s opening is access, especially in an area of town where grocery stores are relatively scarce.<\/p>\n

\u201cNorth Park, in particular, is undergoing a resurgence,\u201d Wonnacott said.\u00a0\u201cWhat we offer fits in well overall, and we\u2019re different than the other grocery stores in the marketplace.\u00a0The spot was pretty much ideal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Studebaker, though, largely credits property owner Mike Kalscheur for bringing Fresh & Easy to the neighborhood, pointing out that he had been working to recruit a grocery store for several years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe owner did a very thorough job of meeting with community organizations, the planning committee, the redevelopment committee, and he asked them what they wanted to see at that location,\u201d she said.\u00a0\u201cHe more than did his due diligence in saying that since they were the ones who lived here, that they were ultimately responsible for the decision and the future of North Park, and he was committed to being a good steward and helping them reach the goals they wanted to accomplish.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kalscheur just believes the grocer is a good fit for the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur decision to pursue Fresh & Easy as a tenant was a combination of having been asked by North Park Main Street to bring in a neighborhood grocer, our belief in [their] concept and our confidence that they would be tremendously successful,\u201d Kalscheur said. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Studebaker believes that what he has accomplished in attracting Fresh & Easy was a \u201cminor miracle\u201d considering the current state of the economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe took a chance on them and now we have this completed project today,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s an absolute positive for North Park.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Margie Palmer\/SDUN Reporter Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has opened its doors to the public, bringing eco-friendly design and low-cost food options to local residents. Located at 32nd\u00a0Street and University Avenue, the retailer has brought both jobs and healthy food options to the neighborhood. \u201cWe are happy to see Fresh & Easy continue to […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":746,"featured_media":243899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Thinking outside the big box: Fresh and Easy opens its doors in North Park","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243898","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/746"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}