A new grocery store planned for Rosemont will probably have to wait until next year.
In January, Fresh and Easy Neighborhood Markets announced but the company never confirmed when the store would open. In an email on Thursday, spokesman Brendan Wonnacott said plans for the Bradshaw location are still up in the air.
"We do not have an update at this time," he wrote. "We have not yet announced an opening date for the Bradshaw store."
On Friday, Wonnacott said the grocery chain hasn't canceled plans for a new store at the Bradshaw location. At the same time, Fresh and Easy doesn't have a timeframe and Wonnacott stated it's "not likely" the new store would open this year.
The Bradshaw location would fill a long-vacant retail space in a shopping center near Old Placerville Road.
After the company announced the expansion earlier this year, Rosemont Patch readers were enthusiastic about Fresh and Easy's push into the neighborhood. "This is exciting news," said Jessica Bean in a comment posted February 1. "That area needs some freshening up, and Rosemont could use another grocery store."
But as months passed and the company postponed announcements for a grand opening, readers began wondering about the store's plans. "When is Fresh and Easy going to open?" asked a reader named Maggie in a post on June 23. "Where does the store stand in regards to an opening date?" wondered Joshua Kress on July 10.
So far, the company has opened five stores in the greater Sacramento area, including a location at El Camino and Watt in Arden-Arcade. Fresh and Easy, considered a competitor to Trader Joe's for selling natural and inexpensive food groceries, has planned 10 other stores in Sacramento including the Bradshaw location.
But there are signs that Fresh and Easy, a subsidiary of British retail giant Tesco, is scaling back once-ambitious expansion plans in the United States. A USA Today story in April described the U.S. grocery chain as "struggling" and said it wouldn't be profitable until at least next year.
The story also claimed some investors want Tesco to shut down Fresh and Easy altogether, but said the company has rejected that idea.
