Tesco Announces Sale of Fresh & Easy Stores to Yucaipa Today

After signaling it was looking at "strategic options" for its money-losing Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market chain early this year, Tesco today announced that it is selling a substantial part of its Fresh & Easy operations, including its Riverside distribution and production facilities, to private equity holding company, Yucaipa Companies LLC.

Tesco indicated the sale is expected to be completed within three months. Yucaipa is purchasing over 150 of Fresh & Easy's 200 stores and is anticipated to retain over 4,000 employees. Currently Fresh & Easy employs over 5,000 people, including 1,300 at its Riverside facility.

On a positive note, this means that they are retaining over 75% of the stores...on a negative note, 25% Fresh & Easy's stores will be closed and 20% of its labor base will be on the job market soon.

WHICH STORES!!?? Yes, this is what everyone wants to know right now, as evidenced on Fresh & Easy's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/freshandeasy. Tesco and Fresh & Easy have not announced which stores will be closed yet but indicated that "those stores not included in the transaction wil be closed over the coming weeks."

So stay tuned, Fresh & Easy fans. There are 10 Fresh & Easy stores in Ventura County and directly adjacent areas.

Yucaipa has quite a track record in the grocery store chain arena, having acquired and/or sold Food 4 Less, Boys Markets, Alpha Beta, Smitty's, Ralphs and Dominick's grocery store chains in the past.

Only One in Five Adults Meet CDC Physical Activity Guidelines - Time to Fix That!

One in five adults meet overall physical activity guidelines

About 20% of U.S. adults are meeting both the aerobic and muscle strengthening components of the federal government's physical activity recommendations, according to a report recently published in  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (catchy name, eh?), a journal of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommend that adults get at least 2½ hours a week of moderate-intensity aerobic activity such as walking, or one hour and 15 minutes a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity, such as jogging, or a combination of both.  The guidelines also recommend that adults do muscle-strengthening activities, such as push-ups, sit-ups, or activities using resistance bands or weights.  These activities should involve all major muscle groups and be done on two or more days per week. 

The report finds that nationwide nearly 50 percent of adults are getting the recommended amounts of aerobic activity and about 30 percent are engaging in the recommended muscle-strengthening activity.

The report also found that the West (24%) and the Northeast (21%) had the highest proportion of adults who met the guidelines. Women, Hispanics, older adults and obese adults were all less likely to meet the guidelines.

For more information about the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, including ways to get and stay active, visit www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity.  Learn more about CDC's efforts to promote walking by visiting www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/walking.

Here in the Conejo Valley and Greater Ventura County with such great weather year-round, it should be easy to meet CDC's Physical Activity Guidelines. Here are some local options:

Upcoming 5K and 10K runs

Running and cycling groups and activities

Gyms and fitness facilities

Pilates

Gymnastics and dance facilities

Martial arts

Swimming

Local hiking and trails

Elderly Oklahoma Tornado Survivor Discovers Pet Dog Alive During Television Interview

The tornado that devastated Moore, Oklahoma has been terrifying to see. This interview with an elderly woman who survived the tornado is touching in several respects. She is asked what it was like during the tornado; she says she was sitting on a stool with her dog in her arms in a small bathroom. Before she knew it she was lying in rubble. She called for her little dog and indicates the dog is missing and somewhere in the rubble.

The interviewer then asks "Are you able to comprehend yet what happened here?" and I love the woman's response, given with a grin "I know exactly what happened here. Exactly." Then "What do you think of all this, this is your neighborhood...I can't imagine.." and her reply "This is life in the big city." Literally a second later they discover the woman's dog, a little black terrier, alive in the rubble, to the joy of this woman and to all of us.

Thousand Oaks 2013 Community Attitude Survey Report Issued March 18th

Since 1969, the City of Thousand Oaks has conducted a communitywide attitude survey every 5 years to sample city residents' views on planning and other issues. Beginning in 2013, the survey will be performed every two years.

The 2013 survey was conducted once again by True North Research of Escondido.  They phone surveyed a "statistically representative" sample of 400 Thousand Oaks residents out of 96,607 adult residents (there are about 128,000 total residents). True North is 95% confident that survey results are within a +/- 4.89% margin of error, consistent with the 2009 survey.

True North is also doing a supplemental web survey, sending postcards to residents this past week to complete the survey at www.toaks.org/survey/default.asp. But this survey is not considered "valid" because people are self-selected, not randomized.

Thousand Oaks residents by a landslide continue to be happy living here. 97% of residents are happy with the quality of life, with 61% (66% in 2009) rating it excellent and 36% (31% in 2009) rating it good.  This is consistent with previous surveys, where this has ranged from 96% to 98% of residents. This is a fantastic statistic.

There is lot of other information in the 69 page survey report accessible at www.toaks.org/survey/ but here are some things I found of particular interest:

Commuting

56% (52% in 2009) of Thousand Oaks residents commute outside of the Conejo Valley for their jobs, and 48% (35% in 2009) of those commute over 60 minutes round trip. Ouch. This statistic infers that roughly 27% of city residents spends over an hour in the car each day, up from 18% in 2009. Ouch, ouch, ouch.

What We Want More Of

Half of the survey takers said they'd like to see additional retail establishments in Thousand Oaks. Of these people, 21% want more family restaurants like TGI Fridays and Black Angus (which is ironic because the city used to have both of these). It is interesting to note that the top two mentions in the 2009 survey, Olive Garden and Red Lobster, are both now in operation here. 19% of these people would like to see large discount stores like Costco or Big Lots and 16% would like another Targe or Wal-Mart uggh (up from 11% in 2009).

Information Sources for News, Events, Programs

Now, for the most telling statistic in our humble opinion here at Conejo Valley Guide! True North asked people to list their top 3 information sources used for learning about City news, services, programs and events.

Conejo Valley Guide (CVG) has plugged away for years, attracts well over one million annual page views and is active in Twitter and Facebook. CVG highlights thousands of events, activities and things to do in the Conejo Valley, Greater Ventura County and surrounding areas. Yet CVG was not listed among the two dozen survey answer options. Gosh darn it!

YET...the top vote getter in the survey was...<drum roll>..."Internet (general)" with 40% of responses, up from 26% in 2009. One could venture to guess that, ahem, Conejo Valley Guide was the primary driver behind this spectacular 50% increase, eh? Perhaps :)

Following CVG, er, I mean "Internet (general)" the most mentioned information choices were The Acorn (36.5% vs 41% in 2009), VC Star (24% vs 29% in 2009), City website (19.3% vs 22% in 2009) and City mailings (7.8% vs 8% in 2009).

For a wealth of information about City of Thousand Oaks, visit www.toaks.org.

Sunset at the base of Tarantula Hill in Thousand Oaks

British Retailer Tesco Indicates it Will Be Selling Its Fresh & Easy Stores

On January 31, 2013, Fresh & Easy parent company Tesco said it was looking at "strategic options" for its money-losing U.S. based Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market stores.

We all pretty much knew where that was going...when you have a business segment that is losing $250 million a year, there was little doubt that Tesco would be leaving the U.S. market.

But that does not mean...yet, at least...that Tesco is shutting down Fresh & Easy. In a posting on the Fresh & Easy website today, the store indicated "As many of you have heard or read today, our parent company Tesco updated on the future of Fresh & Easy.  While we don’t yet know who our new owner will ultimately be, Tesco has already received interest from a number of parties including groups looking to purchase Fresh & Easy as an operating business.  We appreciate all the support and love we’ve received from our loyal customers and even though our parent company plans to leave the US, we’re pleased to confirm there are no plans to close any portion of Fresh & Easy."

So what Tesco and Fresh & Easy indicated today is that 1) Tesco is indeed exiting the U.S. market; 2) there are a number of potentially interest parties who may acquire the Fresh & Easy chain; and 3) there are no current plans to "close any portion of Fresh & Easy."

As part of today's announcement, Tesco said it is treating Fresh & Easy as a "discontinued operation" and as such, has written down the value of Fresh & Easy assets and future anticipated liabilities on its books...to the tune of £1.2 billion...which is approximately $1.8 billion in U.S. dollars. OUCH. The $1.8 billion loss includes roughly $257 million in operating losses, with the remainder the write-down in assets and estimate future lease costs.

That's gotta hurt a bit. Tesco is a British company but its stock also trades on Nasdaq under symbol TESO, which was down 3.3% today, over double what the S&P 500 was down today.

In any case, best of luck to the Fresh & Easy chain in finding a buyer and figuring out a way to generate a profit. There are 10 Fresh & Easy stores in Ventura County and directly adjacent areas.

Lastly, I heard what I found to be quite an odd Fresh & Easy commercial on the radio this morning that is posted below. Very unusual, kind of surprising use of the shortened "f&easy" - a bit risque if ya ask me :)

World Toilet Day is November 19th!

The World Toilet Organization was founded in 2001 as a global non-profit organization committed to improving toilet and sanitation conditions worldwide.  The WTO's founding day of November 19th is celebrated each year as "World Toilet Day" to increase awareness of global sanitation issues.  WTO has over 150 member organizations around the world.

WTO founder Jack Sim was named a "Hero of the Environment" by Time Magazine in 2008.  He seeks to destigmatize the toilet and make it a status symbol for the poor.  "I want people to aspire to owning a toilet, just like others aspire to own a Louis Vuitton bag," he told Time.  Heck, I'm already there.

From the "Putting Things Into Perspective" department:  Over 2.6 BILLION people around the world do not have access to basic sanitation.  In other words, over 8 times the entire U.S. population around the world don't even have access to a toilet!

The WTO describes its logo on its website.  The logo's message is "Love our Toilet." "The logo of the WTO is the image of a toilet seat-cover viewed from an angle as how most people would see it. The ring in the middle of the toilet seat-cover signifies a connected circle of members. Blue was chosen as the color of the toilet seat-cover as a symbolization of water and how WTO is also closely-related to water issues."

Visit www.worldtoilet.org for more information.