British Grocery Giant Coming to Escondido, Calif.
By Quinn Eastman, North County Times, Escondido, Calif.
Jan. 18–ESCONDIDO — British retail giant Tesco is planning to open a specialty grocery store this summer on Ash Street in Escondido, according to city officials and a property management firm.
Tesco says it is preparing to open around 300 stores in Southern California, Nevada and Arizona, although it is being tight-lipped about the stores’ exact locations. It opened its U.S. headquarters in El Segundo in December.
The firm signed a lease for a site at 415 N. Ash near East Valley Parkway, a representative of property management company James Crone & Associates told the East Valley business association last week. Bob Rodewald told the group the store, tentatively named “Aquarius,” would be comparable to a Trader Joe’s or Boston Market.
Supermarkets across California have been anticipating the arrival of Tesco, which is the world’s fourth-largest retailer with $80 billion in annual sales, but remains unfamiliar to many shoppers in the United States.
“I don’t think that it’s going to be like anything else in this country,” said San Marcos retail analyst George Whalin, who has been tracking Tesco’s plans, on Wednesday. “They think this is going to be an alternative to supermarkets for busy people.”
Whalin said he expected the new stores to be similar to Tesco’s “Express” stores in Britain and Europe, with an abundance of fresh and “heat-and-eat” foods.
He predicted that several other Tesco stores will be opening in San Diego County.
Tesco has bought land for a regional distribution center at the former March Air Force Base in Riverside County, now being converted to civilian use.
The Escondido property, just north of a McDonald’s and across from a 99 Cent store, is now occupied by a closed golfing shop.
“I think it’s going to be a great addition to the East Valley area,” said City Councilman Sam Abed, who also owns a nearby gas station.
He said that the East Valley Parkway corridor has become crowded with supermarkets and he hoped that Tesco could provide an alternative with some “European flavor.”
The area has been a battleground for retailers recently. The City Council in 2005 approved what would have been Escondido’s first Wal-Mart a couple blocks away on Grand Avenue, only to have nearby Ralph’s supermarket scuttle the project by invoking noncompetition terms in its lease.
The city’s Design Review Board has already seen a presentation on what the Tesco store might look like, but the Planning Commission has not yet approved the plans.
City Planning Director Jonathan Brindle said his department was still studying how to handle the store’s predicted traffic. North-bound drivers on Ash are now forbidden from turning left into the site.
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