Fresh & Easy opens LEED store

CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. Fresh & Easy opened its first green store in California last week.

The grocer now has a LEED Gold Certified store, a preeminent program for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings, as established by the U.S. Green Building Council and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute. The store, located in Cathedral City, Calif., received energy use, lighting, water use and incorporating a variety of other sustainable strategies, such as using 90% recycled steel for the building's structure.

"Achieving LEED Gold certification for our Cathedral City store further demonstrates our commitment to the environment and sustainable consumption," said Fresh & Easy CEO Tim Mason. "Designing our buildings to use less energy is win-win: we are able to use less money which we can pass onto customers and we have less of an impact on the earth."

As part of the store's grand opening festivities, Gilda's Club Desert Cities received a $1,000 donation from Fresh & Easy. The charity, which creates welcoming communities of free support for everyone living with cancer, was selected by the store staff from neighborhood nominations made through Fresh & Easy's website (www.freshandeasy.com).