Fresh & Easy market opens on Broad Street in SLO

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• Grocery chain is hiring for new San Luis Obispo store

  Grocery chain is hiring for new San Luis Obispo store

  As construction nears an end on the 10,000-square-foot Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market on Broad Street in San Luis Obispo, the company announced this week it is hiring employees.

  Fresh & Easy is recruiting on Twitter (@FandEcareers) and is also accepting applications on its website at www.freshandeasy.com/joinus.

  “Between 25 and 30 people will be hired at the San Luis Obispo store to work as customer assistance associates, team leaders and store managers,” said Brendan Wonnacott, communications director for Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.

• Dick’s Sporting Goods in San Luis Obispo is now open

  Dick’s Sporting Goods in San Luis Obispo is now open

  Dick’s Sporting Goods opened its newest location today at the Prefumo Creek Commons shopping center on Los Osos Valley Road in San Luis Obispo.

• New low-income apartments ready for SLO families

  New low-income apartments ready for SLO families

  A below-market-price housing complex of 42 one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments for low-income families is now ready for its San Luis Obispo residents.

  The Village at Broad Street, developed by ROEM Corp., is on the east side of Broad Street between Santa Barbara and Alphonso streets, near the Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market that opened last week.

  The city provided a $1 million housing loan from its housing trust fund to the developer and waived $870,000 in water, sewer and traffic impact fees — a form of tax on new buildings — to help the project advance.

• Uptown Jean closes San Luis Obispo store

  Uptown Jean closes San Luis Obispo store

  After 10 years in business, Uptown Jean Co. has closed the doors on its first — and last remaining — location, in downtown San Luis Obispo.

  At one time, there were six Uptown Jean Co. stores throughout Central and Northern California. Over the years, those other locations closed, but the flagship store at 699 Higuera St. continued to thrive. That is, until about two years ago.

  “Uptown was a very successful store,” owner Helio Fialho said. “Over the last two years, foot traffic has deteriorated and the landscape of downtown has changed dramatically. The downtown has become too food- and bar-driven, and when you have imbalance like that, retail fails every single time.”

• Departure of Scolari’s is a painful loss

  Departure of Scolari’s is a painful loss

  It’s tough when any local business closes — be it a restaurant, a bookstore or a shoe shop — but somehow, we make due. Supermarkets, though, are one of the few “brick and mortar” businesses that are indispensable; eggs, milk and arugula aren’t items you can generally buy on Amazon.

  It’s a big blow, then, to be losing Scolari’s markets .

  Scolari’s was a part of our community for more than six decades; supplying jobs, providing support to nonprofit organizations, boosting revenue for cities through sales tax and providing service to customers.