Fresh & Easy - not easy to be fresh

Tesco expected to scrap struggling US grocery chain Fresh & Easy | Business | The Guardian: "Trader Joe's, owned by the German supermarket giant Aldi Nord, has about 370 stores in the US and sells an estimated $1,750 (£1,140) in merchandise per square foot. The sales per square foot achieved by Fresh & Easy during its opening months was a mere $11 to $25.

Both businesses are owned by European retail giants, so why did only one win the west?

Like Fresh & Easy's 200 US stores, Trader Joe's strives to sell wholesome food at a low cost. The key difference between the two lies in Trader Joe's focus on customer experience – the cheery staff wear Hawaiian shirts, morning shoppers get free coffee and kids get rolls of stickers. Over at Fresh & Easy, customers fend for themselves at self-service checkouts.

In 1979, Trader Joe's founder, the US entrepreneur Joe Coulombe, sold the firm to the privately owned Aldi Nord, best known for its no-frills Aldi stores in mainland Europe. The Aldi chain in the UK and US is run by a separate German company, Aldi Sud, which is heavily tipped to pick up some of Fresh & Easy's stores and a distribution centre."

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