LAS VEGAS -- Six Las Vegas Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets will close their doors because of the severity of the recession.
Fresh & Easy management says the closures are temporary until the economy improves and the employees impacted will be reassigned to other stores. Here is a list of the local stores that are impacted:
- Desert Inn & Pecos McLeod
- Vegas & Jones
- Lake Mead & Hollywood
- Warm Springs & Eastern
- Eastern & Fremont
- Las Vegas & Lake Mead
"It's going to be tough, especially on the ones that don't drive. They walk back and forth with their little carts," said shopper Barbara Haber.
A spokesperson for Fresh & Easy says the closures come as a temporary move because of the severe economic conditions. The particular stores are not performing as well as the other locations in the area.
That's rough news to faithful customers who depend on these stores.
"I like it because it is convenient and it is close by. I've been coming here seen it opened -- sometimes twice a day," said shopper Sunny Bush.
Several customers say they liked shopping at the stores because they are close by and typically are not as crowded as other stores. However, now that six locations are set to close in early November, customers will now have to find another place to shop.
Fresh & Easy says these closures are only temporary and would like to re-open once the market has time to recover. It is still unknown when or if that would ever happen though.
Economic analyst say despite the companies efforts to continue maintaining some of these stores, in the end, it just may not make business sense.
"Since a lot of those store were financed and opened during the boom, they probably over-expanded here in southern Nevada and some of those locations that were only marginal to begin with, worked ok during the boom have shown not to work as well during the recession. So they are closing them down," said John Restrepo with Restrepo Consulting.
Restrepo says this could be a sign of the times for businesses that built during the boom and are now having to adjust their expectations by shutting down or consolidating stores. He's says it may very well be just the grind of the recession that's catching up with some businesses.
He also mentioned southern Nevada may be a bit over-retailed when it comes to grocery stores.
About 20 to 30 people work at each one of the stores that will be closing. The company says they are working to offer all of those employees jobs at one of their other 21 locations.
