FILE  - A customer pushes a cart to the entrance of a Fresh & Easy Express food market in Burbank, California October 17, 2012. REUTERS
FILE – A customer pushes a cart to the entrance of a Fresh & Easy Express food market in Burbank, California October 17, 2012. REUTERS

 

Torrance, CA – Fresh & Easy will shutter all 97 of its remaining stores in California, Arizona and Nevada and cease operations after nearly a decade of struggling to catch on with consumers.

The Daily Breeze newspaper reports the grocery chain, headquartered in Torrance, California, announced Wednesday that all 3,000 of its employees will be laid off.

The company closed about 50 of its stores in March.

Fresh & Easy made a big splash in 2007, backed by British supermarket giant Tesco, which saw an opportunity to enter the U.S. market.

California-based The Yucaipa Cos. bought the chain out of bankruptcy in 2013.

The newspaper says the first layoffs are expected a week from Friday.

As reported by Vos Iz Neias