New Market Coming to the Bayview!

Tesco "Fresh and Easy" signed an agreement last week to open a market at 5800 Third, the old Coca Cola bottling plant. The ground-breaking ceremony is currently scheduled for Thursday December 13th at 11:30am. Our community is very much invited!

The agreement caps months of effort on the part of Amy Cohen at the Mayor's Office of Economic and Workforce Development, and was informed by the Southeast Sector Food Access Working Group (SEFA) and the community-at-large by way of the food preferences survey reported on this blog. (Click on "Food Health and Safety" at the right of this post to learn more.)

Congratulations to all concerned, and a big "thank you" to the residents of the Bayview who took time to complete the survey, attend a meeting, or in some other way raise the issue that our neighborhood needs new and improved food options.

We call on all involved to "keep up the pace" to achieve the vision of a Bayview retail community that is as multi-faceted as in any other neighborhood in San Francisco. "Fresh and Easy" won't be open for some time yet. And it won't, by itself, secure equitable access to healthy food.

The "Fresh and Easy" store format proposed for the Bayview has been described as smaller than a Safeway, and something between a Ralph's and a Trader Joes. The market will be nearly full-service, though without a pharmecy given that there is a Walgreens' nearby. The store specializes in prepared food for families on-the-go.

Tesco is the third largest retailer of food in Europe, and is based in the United Kingdom. The United States is a relatively new market for Tesco. The company has operations in Los Angeles. But this is the first in our area.