Construction of Tesco

Tesco is a British supermarket and retail company, one of the biggest in the world. It was started in 1919 by Jack Cohen, a former soldier, who began selling surplus groceries from a market stall in the East End of London. The name came a few years later from the initials of a tea supplier, T. E. Stockwell, combined with the first letters of Cohen's surname. The first Tesco shop opened in 1929 in Burnt Oak, north London, and the company expanded through the twentieth century into self-service supermarkets, out-of-town hypermarkets and financial services. It introduced the Clubcard loyalty scheme in 1995 and operates in several countries, though it withdrew from some markets such as the United States and Japan.

Open on the timeline