Fresh & Easy signs lease for closed Clement St. store

by Paul Kozakiewicz

The Fresh & Easy supermarket chain has made an agreement to occupy a large portion of the former Albertsons located at Clement Street and 32nd Avenue.

The market will carry staples, such as milk, eggs, butter and bread, and pre-made items that can be popped into a microwave or conventional oven to cook or heat. There will be a mix of Fresh & Easy and national labels available and much of the produce, about 60 percent grown locally, will be organic. The store is expected to have a bakery and a deli.

According to Justin Chan, who works for Bergman, a company hired by Fresh & Easy to assist with the opening of new stores, the market has a five-year lease with three additional five-year options, giving it up to 20 years at the location.

There are more than 100 Fresh & Easy stores open nationally, many in the Southwest, including Southern California. Fresh & Easy will take up about 14,000 square feet of the 30,000-square-foot building. The remainder of the space is expected to be sub-let by CVS to operate a pharmacy. The Albertsons' site is permitted to operate a pharmacy according to previous conditions.

The supermarket chain is planning to open the site sometime in 2010. The delay is caused by the firm needing a "critical mass" of new stores in Northern California to justify a central distribution center. To date, three locations have been lined up in San Francisco, the Outer Richmond and stores at Silver Avenue and Goettingen Street and Third Street and Carroll Avenue.

In the meantime, Chan said Fresh & Easy will put a taller fence around the property to keep graffiti vandals off the property.

Consultant Gia Daniller, who is assisting the market with its expansion plan in the City, said the store would most likely be open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., which is in-line with what most of the chain's other stores are open. Beer and wine will also be for sale.

Daniller said the company does extensive research, and with its mix of fresh and "grab and go" prepared foods, the neighborhood and the market make for a good fit.

"San Francisco is perfect for our model," she said.

Although the stores are non-union, employees are well treated, Chan said, earning full benefits with a minimum of 20 hours a week worked and getting a company contribution into employees' retirement plans.