Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is still planned for the Promenade Center at 1309-1397 Grand Ave., Glendora, but exactly when opening day will be, remains unknown.
The El Segundo-based store chain, headed by parent company Tesco, has leased a 14,000 square foot building in the Promenade Center for two years.
And although other tenants have moved in, including two popular restaurants, the lack of Fresh & Easy as an anchor has made filling up spaces at the center more challenging.
Management for Fresh & Easy will wait for a set sales threshold to be met at the chain’s Covina and Azusa stores before opening the Glendora store. For now, there’s no change in the status, said Jeff Kugel, planning director of the City of Glendora.
The company has not divulged what the threshold will be.
“In the meantime, they continue to lease and pay rent,” Kugel said.
Once a decision is made to open the store, it shouldn’t take long to get the cash registers ringing.
“We put in fixtures and they’re ready to operate,” said Adam Voelker, project manager for Abbey Co., the Long Beach-based developer and lessor for the Promenade Center property.
Voelker also had no estimate for when the store might open. He said that other large store chains have delayed opening based on local sales.
“But it is not typical,” Voelker said.
Glendora is not alone in waiting an extended period for Fresh & Easy to open. Delays were reported in Orange County last year.
The Orange County Register reported in November of 2010 that shoppers waited months for news on pending store openings in Brea, Costa Mesa, Rancho Santa Margarita, Lake Forrest and Cypress. That came after Fresh & Easy closed 13 stores for underperformance.
But the retailer opened three Southern California stores, Lake Forest; Costa Mesa and San Diego, in February.
The cost of leasing for two years can be expensive. Voelker declined to say how much rent is for the store space, but rents for retail space in the Glendora area typically range from about $14 per square foot per year to $24 per square foot per year.
Despite the delay, Voelker sees plenty of opportunity at the Promenade center. He is also impressed with the quality of businesses that have moved in.
Tenants include Flame Broiler and Osuna’s Mexican Grill restaurants along with health and medical facilities. Also, O’Porto Fine Portuguese Restaurant plans to open in the center this June or July.
