Aug. 6--DUARTE -- After a three-month hiatus from opening stores, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is on the move again.

The company has submitted plans to open a 15,000-square-foot store at the site of the Cal's Farmer's Market at the northwest corner Huntington and Mt. Olive drives in Duarte.

Cal's is scheduled to close soon, and Fresh & Easy could be ready for business as early as January, officials said.

"It's a huge tenant coming to the city," said City Manager Darrell George. "We've been working with the broker and the owners of the shopping center as far as making that happen. We see that as the cornerstone for revitalization of that entire center."

City officials may even consider spending redevelopment money to spruce up public spaces in the area, he said.

George hopes the market will attract other eateries to the center, such as bagel, juice or coffee shops.

The opening marks a return to form for Fresh & Easy, which for a year had opened 61 stores at a rate of one new store every 2 days. In April, the company announced it would open no more stores for at least three months.

Fresh & Easy is owned by Tesco Corp., a United Kingdom-based food company that has aggressively expanded into the United States since 2007.

Company officials said Tesco plans to spend $437 million a year expanding in the U.S.

The company took the break in its expansion plans because it needed time to "kick the tires, smooth out any wrinkles and make some improvements that customers have asked for," according to Simon Uwins, Fresh & Easy's chief marketing officer.

At the time, those in the supermarket industry figured bad sales had prompted the slowdown.

Experts wonder what type of customer Fresh & Easy is shooting for, said Mark Hamstra, retail editor for Supermarket News.

"The sense that people in the industry have is that it is not clear to what kind of niche they are trying to fill in that store," Hamstra said.

With prepared foods, organic items and sushi, the store seems to cater to young professionals, he said.

"But the ambience in the store isn't really geared for that clientele," he said. "It's a bare-bones ambience with very little merchandising flair. I think their prices, from the stores I have been in, have been pretty competitive. But I'm not sure customers really (realize) that."

Nevertheless, Fresh & Easy's busy opening schedule seems to be back on track.

The first post-hiatus opening took place in Manhattan Beach last month, and the company plans to continue quick openings throughout the year, officials said.

In July, Uwins said on his blog that the company took the break to tweak its stores, giving them more color and offering a larger variety of prepared meals.

"Listening, and then acting on it, is in our view the way to build long-term relationships with customers," he said. "It means our shopping trip is always improving, and staying in tune with changing needs."

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