The partnership between Wachovia and Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market brings together two companies with an emerging presence in California, an ongoing commitment to the state and other western locales and a strong reputation for easy-to-use and efficient customer service.
"We couldn't be more pleased to offer state-of-the-art ATMs in Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market as another convenient service we provide for our West Coast customers," said Gary Bargeron, senior vice president and manager of Wachovia's National ATM Program.
Wachovia plans to build approximately 40-50 branches a year over the next five years in California. And this commitment to the market makes Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market a natural partner.
"This partnership is an excellent way for Wachovia to provide busy consumers with the convenience of one-stop shopping and easy access to their cash," Bargeron said. "We believe the combination of our top-ranked commitment to customer convenience and satisfaction and Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's concept of convenient, fresh and environmentally friendly products is going to be a big winner in our Western markets."
CEO Tim Mason of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets said, "When considering ATM providers in the U.S., Wachovia stood out as a logical and natural partner since both companies strive to be good neighbors and employers and to provide the absolute best customer service. We are confident that consumers will be as receptive to Wachovia as they will be to our fresh, high-quality foods."
The companies are also a natural fit in another important area – environmental stewardship. Wachovia recently announced a "green" financial center design in accordance with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification standards. The company will begin opening its green financial centers in Southern California later this year, and by the end of 2008 all new Wachovia branches will be built using LEED standards.
Wachovia's plans for green branches complement its strong environmental commitment, including a pledge to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent from 2005 levels by the year 2010.
Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is equally committed to the environment. "Fresh & Easy believes part of being a good neighbor is being a responsible steward of the environment," said Simon Uwins, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market chief marketing officer. "Underscoring that commitment, we will install an innovative 500,000 square foot solar roof at our distribution center, at a cost of $13 million. We believe it will be the largest roof-mounted solar installation in California and possibly the world. In addition to our solar roof, we will minimize waste by recycling or reusing all our shipping material. Our freezer cabinets will use LED rather than florescent lighting, saving 50 percent, and we have modified our fridges to cut energy use by 10 percent."
The environmental commitment of the two companies is another plus for customers in western markets.
"Wachovia's commitment to expansion, to the communities where we will do business, and to leading the way in energy and resource conservation is in strong alignment with Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's Good Neighbor policies," said Bargeron. "This alignment speaks volumes about the value this partnership will bring to the markets we mutually serve."
About Wachovia
Wachovia Corporation (NYSE:WB) is one of the nation's largest diversified financial services companies, with assets of $719.9 billion and market capitalization of $97.5 billion at June 30, 2007. Wachovia provides a broad range of retail banking and brokerage, asset and wealth management, and corporate and investment banking products and services to 13 million household and business customers. Wachovia has 3,400 retail financial centers in 21 states from Connecticut to Florida and west to Texas and California, and nationwide retail brokerage, mortgage lending and auto finance businesses. Globally, clients are served in selected corporate and institutional sectors and through more than 40 international offices. Our retail brokerage operations under the Wachovia Securities brand name manage more than $795 billion in client assets through approximately 10,800 registered representatives in 774 offices in 48 states and through service affiliate offices in Latin America. Online banking is available at wachovia.com; online brokerage products and services at wachoviasec.com; and investment products and services at evergreeninvestments.com.
About Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market
Tesco is the UK's largest retailer and one of the world's leading international retailers, operating over 2,800 stores across 12 countries and employing more than 370,000 people.
Tesco began as a market stall set up by Jack Cohen in 1919. The name Tesco first appeared above a shop in London in 1929. There have been several phases of growth for Tesco and during the 1990s Tesco pioneered many grocery innovations in the UK. For example, the company launched the Clubcard loyalty scheme and Tesco.com, now the world's leading internet grocery store. In 1995 Tesco started to expand overseas and now operates in Ireland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Turkey, China, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and Thailand. In January 2007 the first Tesco-branded store opened in China.
Tesco's success is due in part to delivering a consistently strong customer offering on every visit and every transaction, and by focusing on the company's core purpose: to create value for customers to earn their lifetime loyalty.
More information regarding Fresh and Easy Neighborhood Market can be found at www.freshandeasy.com.
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