Many chains have come to California and learned that it’s not an easy place to be profitable.  Besides high real estate prices for the land they build on, there’s customers with high expectations (and a lot of choices), it’s hard to find employees who will work for minimum wage, and there are tons of additional laws and regulations to deal with.   CVS came and went from California 10 years ago, and have found it harder to make profits in the stores here they acquired from Sav-On and Longs.

Last July 30th a new market opened up the street from me called The Fresh Market.  It opened in what had been a pretty dead shopping center.  Over the years tenants have come and gone, with the only one left standing being a Chucky Cheese.  There were 3 different auto stores in the center at different times.  Finally they completely remodeled the center and built a large building for a market to try and revitalize it.  They also attracted Pharmaca, who just opened a new drug store there.

I had never heard of The Fresh Market, but evidently they have over 160 stores, mostly back east.  They started in 1982 in North Carolina.    I visited the store the day after they opened.  They were very similar to a Whole Foods–i.e. pricey but high quality offerings and a lot of service departments.   One thing that surprised me was that even though it was their grand opening they did not have anything approaching a “bargain.” The second thing, which was really amazing, was that their customer service SUCKED.   While I was walking around (remember, it’s their second day open!) I was never greeted or asked if I needed help, in fact two employees were talking to each other as I walked past and just continued on as if I wasn’t there.  (I checked to make sure I wasn’t invisible, just in case.)

I didn’t buy much and decided I would not be back, within a couple miles of my house I can find a Trader Joes, Vons, Sprouts, Fresh and Easy, Ralphs and a Whole Foods and they offered nothing I could find elsewhere.

Two days I ago I was in the center to check out the Pharmaca and have lunch at the Baja Fresh in the center, and then walked over to the Fresh Market to buy some tomatoes.  To my surprise, they were CLOSED already and had a sign out front saying “Thank you for your patronage, but we have closed this location.”  After 8 months,  they had already decided they could not be profitable there.   (I can’t imagine they’d sign a month-to-month lease, but even if they did, that’s pretty soon to give up!)

I also learned that they closed three stores they opened in Sacramento (their first try in California) after a year and a half.

Could there be a better poster child for “It’s tough to make a buck in California?”   I’m pretty sure they’ll be sticking to the Midwest from now on.    And I feel bad for Pharmaca, who just opened their store expecting the Fresh Market to be the anchor that would attract their type of customer, as they will now have to rely on the crowd going to Chucky Cheese, Custom Blinds, Edible Bouquets and a cleaners.