Unnecessary risk for Tesco

Re “Fresh & Easy, and missing,” editorial, Nov. 17

Rather than require that the new grocer in town, Tesco, supply the hungry in South Los Angeles, why not call on the old pros like Vons, Ralphs and Food for Less to step up to the plate? The established markets have been missing in action for years in underserved areas. The first order of business ought to be to require them to return to the front lines.

If there is so much profit to be made in the “food deserts” of Southern California, let’s get the pros to take the first bite. Tesco has plenty of time to make up its mind about what areas are best served by its format.

Douglas Huntzinger

Paramount

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I suspect that once the well-meaning Brits at Fresh & Easy find out that crime-ridden and gang-infested areas are a lot different here from what they might know in England, they will do away with plans for a store in a so-called underserved neighborhood. And you know what, who cares if they do? Why risk the lives of their employees?

As long as they are following zoning restrictions and complying with the law, they have a right to put their stores where they want. Let them at least be open longer than a few weeks before we damn them for not giving in to a union smear campaign and potentially abandoning the downtrodden masses of South Los Angeles.

Roy T. Rice

Lomita

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I imagine companies such as Tesco spend vast sums of money before making their grand entrance into the U.S. Instead of a marketing plan, is it your expectation or recommendation that Tesco, or any company, simply set up shop in areas where people are underserved regardless of the logic of doing so? If a certain community is being underserved, would it not be better if you were to write an article about why that is so?

Why has Tesco been singled out for not providing more to the underserved? Is Tesco the only company that has decided not to set up shop in the area you mention? I think your comments left me with more questions than answers.

Elizabeth Kerrigan

Burbank