Retail Watchers

https://www.dailybreeze.com/2017/11/27/ ... tan-beach/

I haven't heard anything about the Mother's chain, which apparently has had a presence in Orange County for quite some time. Interesting that both sites will be former Fresh & Easy stores -- including the Manhattan Beach space on Rosecrans Ave. that was F&E's "flagship" / "experimental" store due to its proximity to F&E's corporate headquarters in El Segundo.

It will be interesting to see how Mother's does in the Manhattan Beach location. Within a one-mile radius of that store, you have Food 4 Less, Bristol Farms, Trader Joe's, Ralph's Fresh Fare, and Whole Foods. The former F&E space Mother's is going into is adjacent to and essentially shares a parking lot with TJ's. In the F&E days, it was common to see TJ's completely packed and brimming with business while the F&E store would have literally zero customers inside.

How is their product? I walked one of their stores a couple years ago somewhere south of Santa Ana and was not too enticed by anything I saw. I think I left emptyhanded actually, but I stumbled upon the store unexpectedly after a fairly large meal, so it was not the optimal time.

I've never heard of this chain before. I looked at their Yelp reviews which were generally pretty good. They seem to emphasize the restaurant experience as much as the grocery experience which should help them differentiate themselves.

They are a bit of a unique format. They do have a standard mix of grocery items though. I forget if they were supplied by Unified or C&S... don't recall pricing being anything too extreme one way or the other.