Neighborhood grocery chain Fresh & Easy announced today it would be opening 12 stores in the Fresno area in the near future.

One store in Lemoore will be opened by the end of December, according to Fresh & Easy spokesperson Brendan Wonnacott. Six more would be opened in February of 2010. Closed to 130 jobs are expected to be generated by the openings.

The small-size grocery chain (10,000-14,000 square feet in size) usually waits about one month before announcing store openings. Several locations have been built out since the beginning of 2009, but have sat empty and unopened.

Locations throughout Fresno and Kings counties will be:

• Cinnamon & Lemoore – Lemoore

• Shaw & Willow - Clovis

• Shaw & Fowler – Clovis

• Shaw & West – Fresno

• Cedar & Nees – Fresno

• Cedar & Shields – Fresno

• Tulare & R – Fresno

• Manning & Upper Bridge – Reedley

• Herndon & Milburn – Fresno

• 1st & Bullard – Fresno

• Ashland & Cornelia – Fresno

• Herndon & Fowler – Fresno

Fresh & Easy is owned by UK-based Tesco, PLC, the third largest retailer in the world. The chain opened opened in the past two years in Southern California and has opened about 130 stores throughout the area, Arizona and Las Vegas.