Willow Glen Resident
News
Safeway site targeted for second Fresh & Easy store
By Mayra Flores De Marcotte
Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets will be opening a second location in Willow Glen, filling in the gap another grocer left behind.
The recent announcement of the pending closure of Safeway store No. 741 at 2306 Almaden Road in Willow Glen created a flurry of concerns among residents over the lack of grocery choices in the neighborhood.
According to Joe Kovalik, one of the property owners of the Willow Glen Plaza where Safeway is located, the grocer had been operating without a lease for the last three years.
"We have been sitting on our hands with Safeway making six-month extensions at a time," he said. "I can't sit around and wait forever."
Kovalik began looking for a new tenant five months ago and began lease negotiations with Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets, owned by British grocery company Tesco.
The supermarket giant was also negotiating a lease at the former Albertson's site at Bird Avenue at the time.
Kovalik informed Safeway of the negotiation. According to Kovalik, Safeway made a better lease offer, but he had already entered into contract with Fresh & Easy.
Fresh & Easy regional real estate director Schuyler Jackson confirmed the move.
"The site fits well within the network we are trying to set up," Jackson said.
The new tenant has Kovalik and partners excited, he said.
"They understand the market," Kovalik said, " and I hope the neighborhood is as excited as we are."
Almaden Road is the second location that Fresh & Easy has targeted in Northern California.
Norcal Safeway division manager of
public affairs Sherry Reckler said the store at the corner of Almaden Road and Curtner Avenue will be closing due to the lack of expansion opportunities at the site.
Kovalik, however, said Safeway had ample time to remodel.
"Safeway is moving out only because they couldn't figure out for many years what they wanted to do," Kovalik said.
According to Kovalik, more than 10 years ago he and partners began the remodeling process of their shopping center. An adjacent liquor store's lease was not renewed, and Safeway was given the opportunity to sell liquor, which it wasn't able to do prior to the remodel, Kovalik said.
Simultaneously, a Rite Aid also adjacent to the grocery store moved out, and Kovalik spoke to Safeway about the opportunity to expand.
"We had been in negotiations for an expansion for more than a decade," he said.
According to Kovalik, Safeway refused to sign a lease, citing the turmoil in supermarket industry.
"I had high hopes that one day Safeway would figure out the value of a neighborhood supermarket," Kovalik said, " and they did, but apparently too late."
