Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets, the chain operated by the British grocery giant Tesco plc, announced plans Thursday to open 10 new outlets in Las Vegas, reports the Sacramento Business Journal.

The news comes a few weeks after a top company official wrote in a blog that Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets would impose a three-month moratorium on new store openings.

The new stores in the Las Vegas area, added to 15 that should be open by the end of the year, will give Fresh & Easy a total of 25 stores in the region. The company now has more than 60 stores in the Los Angeles, San Diego, Las Vegas and Phoenix metropolitan areas.

Fresh & Easy stores are distinguished by their relatively small size -- 10,000 square feet -- and large quantities of fresh produce and organic food offerings.
Company officials also announced this week that Fresh & Easy sales are ahead of budget and already higher than the U.S. supermarket industry average. However, no specific figures were released.

Tesco officials are spending $2 billion on the launch of the Fresh & Easy chain over the next five years.

"With every week, we continue to secure additional sites and build more stores," Tim Mason, Fresh & Easy CEO, said in a news release. "We have been extremely encouraged by the response from our customers. Fresh & Easy sales are ahead of budget and we continue to trend upwards in every market."

But that contradicts a March report by an analyst for Piper Jaffray, who said Fresh & Easy was failing to attract shoppers and had missed its early sales targets by 70 percent.