Tesco "shelves" expansion of Fresh & Easy

From The UK Telegraph comes this news that Tesco is calling a three-month moratorium to its expansion in the U.S. for a period of time. Tesco's efforts have been widely panned to the point "piling on," and others have pointed out Tesco's timing of expansion of Fresh & Easy in Western states and the just-starting contraction of the U.S. economy was star-crossed. From the story:

But having opened 59 stores in just four months Tesco has halted the rollout of new stores in order to "make improvements and allow the business to settle down".

"We've given ourselves a little bit of time to kick the tyres, smooth out any wrinkles, and make some improvements that customers have asked for," wrote Simon Uwins, marketing director of Fresh & Easy, on his company blog last week.

"In nine months, we've gone from a project team of 200 people to a business employing nearly 2,500 people. We've learnt a huge amount about running the operation, and talked to thousands of customers about what they like about Fresh & Easy, and where they would like us to improve," he added.


TK: By the way, here is the link to the Fresh & Easy blog by Uwins. This will only increase the scrutiny of Fresh & Easy by Tesco's money men and the retailer's
investors.