Tesco logo

"Historic" Tesco store in St Albans

Tesco PLC is the largest British supermarket chain in the UK and is listed on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol TSCO. It also has a secondary listing on the Irish Stock Exchange with the name TESCO LTD. It has significant operations in other countries. Originally specializing in food they have moved into areas such as clothes, consumer electronics and cars. By 2003 it had over 2000 stores, including a large number of convenience stores in the UK.

Tesco was founded by Jack Cohen, who was selling groceries in the markets of the London East End from 1919. The Tesco brand first appeared in 1924 after Jack Cohen bought a large shipment of tea from T.E. Stockwell and made new labels by using the first three letters of the supplier's name and the first two letters of his surname forming the word "TESCO".

The first Tesco store was opened in 1929 in Burnt Oak, Edgware, London. The firm was floated on the stock exchange in 1947. The first Tesco self-service store opened in 1948 in St Albans and is still trading as of 2004. The first Tesco supermarket was opened in 1956 at a converted cinema in Maldon, Essex. Its first "superstore" was opened in 1968 in Crawley, West Sussex. It began selling petrol in 1974 and its annual turnover reached 1000 million pounds in 1979. It introduced a loyalty card in 1995 and later an Internet shopping service. During the 1990s it expanded into Eastern Europe, Ireland and East Asia. In July 2001 it became involved in internet grocery retailing in the USA when it obtained a 35% stake in GroceryWorks.

In addition to opening its own stores, Tesco has expanded by taking over other chains, including:

• Victor Value, England, 1968 (sold again in 1986)
• William Low, Scotland, 1994
• Quinnsworth, Stewarts and Crazy Prices stores, Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland from Associated British Foods plc, 1997
• 13 HIT hypermarkets in Poland, 2002
• T & S Stores, owner of the UK convenience store chains One Stop and Day & Nite, 2002
• C Two-Network in Japan, 2003
• A majority stake in Turkish supermarket chain Kipa in 2003.
• Lotus in Thailand

Operations outside the UK

Outside of the United Kingdom they also operate in the following countries:

• Czech Republic,
• Hungary,
• Malaysia.
• Poland,
• Republic of Ireland,
• Slovakia,
• South Korea,
• Taiwan, and
• Thailand.

Related Articles

• Supermarkets in the United Kingdom

External links and references

• Tesco web site (http://www.tesco.com)
• Tesco Business History (http://www.cheapest-house-insurance.co.uk/Insurance/Tesco.shtml)
• Tesco buys Japanese retailer (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2977358.stm), BBC News, 10 June 2003
• Jack Cohen wrote an autobiography Pile it high and sell it cheap.