I arrived around 9:00 AM for the 10:00 AM opening. Parking at Green Valley Center, where this Fresh & Easy is located, was fine in the early morning. Later upon leaving, parking vultures circled the lot for a any open space with many people parking illegally in order to make due.
There was a lone staffer outside who was letting potential customers know that the opening wasn't until 10:00 AM. All told, he probably had to tell upwards of 3 dozen people of the "official" opening time for the grand opening. He was very friendly, as was all Fresh and Easy staff, with just one notable exception, later in the morning, who took issue with my picture taking of the festive event. Most potential customers this morning had a Fresh & Easy mailing and seemed excited about the opening.
There was some indoor prep work and speeches being made prior to the ribbon cutting ceremony. The staff indoors were definitely bustling and there seemed to be at least 20 Fresh & Easy employees there to lend a hand. It was a mix of the local team as well as several special opening-team staff. A staffer did make it outside with samples of cookies, pita chips, and the unfortunate choice of cold lemon-aid on this brisk high-40's morning.
John, the store manager, took time to chat with me about logistics, distribution, stock, and the opening in general. They had full stock for the opening (although, I looked for an old favorite but didn't find it ... they must have discontinued the chocolate covered blueberries?) Nice guy for sure.
By the time of the ribbon cutting at around 9:50, up to 40 or so people had gathered. In attendance was Danville's mayor, Karen Stepper. The local charity check was also given away at this time to a swim team. The doors opened and the frenzy commenced ...
The store was, well, new. It was well lit, had a straight forward layout, and clean. All that said, the aisles were VERY cramped as it had room for just two carts, side by side, and it made navigating very difficult (especially with the constant stream of people in attendance ... 70-80 people at all times). In all honesty, I found myself there at the store for an hour and a half and could have spent another hour or two just looking around but put myself on a timeline to get out of there straight away when I realized I had just been aimlessly looking at all the shelves of product.
It had become so crowded that a line had formed for the register checkout around the 3/4 of the perimeter of the store. If it was self-checkout & bag today, I bet it would have taken me an hour to get out of there. Instead, with all the staff on hand, I was on my way in less than 15 minutes. There were two people per checkout to ring customers up and to bag the groceries.
I had also managed to score a free t-shirt and canvas bag ... the all elusive canvas bag that I could never get a break on getting a coupon for! Ha!
There was so much product to look at and I could have purchased everything I laid eyes on ... but I restrained myself (kind of ...). One of the main annoyances was the expiration date on the pre-prepared meals / refrigerated food. I had purchased food that (no joke) had stamped expiration day of today on it. Most food expired in 1-5 days (even those items seemed to expire very quickly). But seriously ... they had food that expired today! Don't worry, I had it for dinner.
The customers were in good spirits and all seemed excited about the new store and especially the prices. I did noticed two special "customers" who walked the aisles without a cart / basket who were wearing Safeway badge holders and examining Fresh & Easy product.
My bounty was fairly decent for my first trip (yet another post to follow), but had wanted to purchase so much more. However, with the accelerated decrepitude with the expiration dates, I kept my distance of the perishables until I knew I wouldn't be taking any lengthy work trips away from home.
Here's to a long and successful presence of Fresh & Easy in northern California.
