Fresh & Easy lays off 50 at headquarters, several East Valley openings still stalled

Looks like those new-but-empty Fresh & Easy markets around the East Valley won’t be opening any time soon.

Tesco, the British conglomerate that owns the U.S. chain, just laid off 50 people at Fresh & Easy’s headquarters in California.

Fresh & Easy, which operates stores in Arizona, Nevada and California, has 12 markets in the East Valley. It also has newly built stores, including in Chandler and Apache Junction, that have been sitting empty for more than two years.

The chain had been expected to reach profitability in 2013, but those expectations have been pushed back to 2014 at the earliest. Last month, Tesco officials said they would close the U.S. chain if they couldn’t make it profitable.