Fresh & Easy slows expansion plans for the United States

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. Fresh & Easy, the grocery chain operated by U.K.’s Tesco corporation that was slated to move into more California and West Coast markets by February, has announced that it will curb development of many stores, the company announced on Wednesday.

Tim Mason, chief executive officer of Fresh & Easy, said that due to the uncertainty of growth in the U.S. market for the remainder of 2008 and looking forward, the openings of 200 U.S. Fresh & Easy stores will be pushed to November 2009.

Tesco said that it had taken the decision because of the wider economy rather than because of concerns about how its stores were performing.

Tesco said that there was no doubt the U.S. economy was in a different place than it was when the company originally released plans for expansion. It said that initially its plans were to accelerate growth by the second quarter 2008, but now will delay plans for growth.