The British are Coming! The British are Coming!

The carts are lined up and the shelves are getting stocked as Walnut Creek’s new Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market gets ready to open its doors Wednesday. 

The Ygnacio Plaza location is the third of nine Bay Area stores that the British-based supermarket giant Tesco offspring is opening by May. Fresh & Easy prides itself on the belief that everyone deserves access to fresh, wholesome food at affordable prices. 

Fresh & Easy operates more than 160 stores in California, Arizona and Nevada. In addition to affordable freshly prepared meals, meats and produce, Fresh & Easy offers national brand products and household items at low prices. The company's popular Fresh & Easy brand products have no artificial colors or flavors, no added trans fats, no high-fructose corn syrup and use preservatives only when necessary.

What’s more, the grocery store recently introduced its Eatwell line, which offers meals with less than 25 percent of the daily-recommended value of calories, saturated fat and sodium. Fresh & Easy also has a  line of Goodness for Kids products and offers a variety of 98-cent produce packs every day. 

According to Fresh & Easy CEO Tim Mason, “Our goal is creating modern 21st century grocery stores, and we are doing just that. We know our freshly prepared meals, our less-processed foods and our very competitive prices will be very well received by Bay Area shoppers.” 

Fresh & Easy is proud to be a good neighbor. For every new store that opens —including in Walnut Creek — the company invites the community to nominate a local, nonprofit organization to receive a $1,000 donation. Fresh & Easy's Shop for Schools program gives back to K–8 schools and it expects to contribute more than $1 million through the program this year.

Fresh & Easy aims to be environmentally friendly. It is a pilot member of the LEED Volume Certification Program. On average, Fresh & Easy stores use 30 percent less energy than a typical supermarket by using LED lighting in external signs and freezer cases, offering customer recycling in every store, and using advanced refrigeration and freezer units to cut back on energy usage. Fresh & Easy also has designated parking spots for hybrid vehicles.  

Fresh & Easy Communications Director Brendan Wonnacott said: “Fresh & Easy is different than any other grocer. We do exactly what we say on the door: We are a market that offers fresh, wholesome food and an easy shopping trip right in your neighborhood. We are always listening to our customers and add new products offerings based on their feedback.”

Fresh & East, 1821 Ygnacio Valley Road (Ygnacio Plaza), 925-472-0545 www.freshandeasy.com. Open daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.