Fresh and Easy - Folsom

So, I had the chance to make my first visit to a Sacramento-area Fresh & Easy last weekend. This store in Folsom takes up about 1/3 of a former Ralphs. On a Saturday afternoon, this store steadily had a customer count of about 6-7 customers inside, while the Raleys Store across the street was packed with dozens of customers and people steadily coming and going. I saw a Save Mart down the street with no more than about 12 cars in the parking lot, as well.

This store had the UFCW picket people out front holding up signs stating the store is "not union" but they didn't seem to be approaching customers.

Once inside, I noticed the store has a decor package that I have not seen before. It is more colorful, open, and just flows better. One of my favorite features here is they widened the produce aisle so it has some island style displays.

Now if they would just stock the produce department more fully, or figure out some way to make it so the displays don't look so empty and picked over... also it is now May and while all competitors are offering fresh California peaches, nectarines, and apricots, these items were nowhere to be found at Fresh and Easy. Where are they? Why is there such a delay in getting the soft California summer fruit?

This case looks a little better. The shelves are angled so the product is facing the customer a bit, as opposed to sitting facing the ceiling.

The in-stock condition at their ready made sandwich area was poor. There were almost as many sandwiches in the markdown area as there were up here in this endcap in a high traffic part of the store.

The bakery was stocked very poorly and every single item I looked at had a sell by date of the day I was in the store, and was selling at full price. I was under the impression that all of the bakery items were a few days old and for some reason they had not replenished with fresh product either of the in-store made variety or pre-made variety in a few days for some reason.

The other thing I noticed in this store was the staffing. They had one employee monitoring the checkout and helping customers. Then there were three other employees basically walking around the store in a "pack" talking to each other and engaged in some sort of restocking project where one pushed a cart, one stocked, and the other just followed and talked. They were not acknowledging customers. They were not restocking areas like the bakery, ready made meals, sandwich endcap, or produce that were in dire need of being restocked.

My impression of this store is that it is a new store, yet, poorly run. Very poorly run. And a new chain in a market like Sacramento that is trying to gain a positive reputation for itself cannot afford this. This store needs to have neat, full displays. It needs to have engaging employees. The store looks great on the surface; it has the makings to be something very nice. But being operated like this, frankly, a Wal Mart has more personality and warmth.

So I tried a few products. I was very happy in most cases.

In store bakery granola scone ($1.00).

The scone was interesting. It was very dry, obviously a couple days old. The flavor and the fillings in the scone reminded me of a fruitcake. The nuts were in huge chunks. The overall flavor was good, but I wish it was fresher. For the price, it was a decent value. This was the only scone flavor available at this store; no other scone flavors were represented. I would purchase this item again.

Tomato Mozzarella Pesto Pasta Salad ($0.92)

This 680 calorie pasta cup was good. I mean, real good. The pesto flavor was strong and really tasty; great quality pesto. Much better than standard mass produced pesto that you usually experience in pasta salads from the larger chain supermarket delis. The pasta was cooked just right, the tomatoes were fresh and still somewhat crisp, the mozzarella was in perfectly sized small pieces the size of the grape tomatoes and obviously a good quality fresh mozzarella. Overall this stuff was great and despite the high calorie count I'd try it again. A much smaller container would be nice, given the calorie count.

Fresh 1 pound Strawberries ($1.50)

These strawberries were just okay. The "display until" date was the day after I purchased them. By the evening of the "display until" date, some of the strawberries were becoming moldy. Not too fresh. The flavor of these strawberries was just okay. I've had better. I've had worse. I don't think they were the best quality strawberries, but for the price, they were fine. For the regular price of $3.49, not so much... and this purchase has me questioning the overall quality of Fresh and Easy's produce program.

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

This pizza dough was pretty good. It had a perfect texture, was easy to prepare, and baked nicely, though, it did not expand much when baking. The cooking instructions on the package were simple enough. Some recipie ideas on the package would be a good touch. I would purchase this again; it seems better quality than the "Safeway Select" pizza dough balls I've tried, but not as good as the pizza dough at WinCo made fresh in the store.

So, again, I was happy with the items purchased. Happy with the store layout and decor. Not so happy with the service or in-stock condition of the store. There is still a lot of work to be done.