Fresh & Easy 'Mothballing' 13 Stores

Tesco’s Fresh & Easy banner will temporarily close 13 stores in Arizona, Nevada and California, according to a published report. Chain spokesman Brendan Wonnacott characterized the closures of the underperforming locations as “mothballing” in the Phoenix Business Journal, adding that the decision to shut the stores was a strategic business move in an adverse economic climate.

“We are going to continue to keep all these stores, because we will reopen them when economic conditions warrant,” noted Wonnacott. The news comes on the heels of  parent company Tesco’s latest financial results, which revealed a loss of about $151 million for the U.K.-based grocer's U.S. business.

Launched in 2007, Fresh & Easy operates 168 stores in three Western states: 107 in California, 27 in Nevada and 34 in Arizona. Of these, six in Arizona, six in Nevada and one in California are slated to close.

Fresh & Easy CEO Tim Mason said that affected employees would be offered jobs at nearby locations/