Jack Cohen began selling surplus groceries from a stall in the East End of London in 1919. He left the Royal Flying Corp at the end of the Great War and used his demob money to buy the first day's stock. –Sarah r
1924
The first own-brand product sold by Jack was Tesco Tea - before the company was called Tesco. The name comes from the initials of TE Stockwell, who was a partner in the firm of tea suppliers, and CO from Jack's surname. - stine
1929
Jack Cohen opened the first Tesco store in Burnt Oak, Edgware, north London. The store sold dry goods and the first ever branded product, which, unsurprisingly, was Tesco Tea! -camille
1934
Jack Cohen bought a plot of land at Angel Road, Edmonton, north London to build a new headquarters and warehouse. It was the first modern food warehouse in the country and introduced new ideas for stock control. – sarah l
1937
The 1930s saw Jack Cohen growing the business by buying stores in the expanding London suburbs. – sarah j
1948
Jack Cohen decided to venture into self-service following a research visit to North America. The first of these new stores opened in St Albans, Hertfordshire in 1948 with a mixed reaction from customers at first. The picture shows colleagues delivering goods to the store. - stine
1955
They bought 19 Burnards stores. Between 1955 and 1960 over 500 new stores were purchased.
-camille
1958
The first supermarket was opened in Maldon, Essex. The store included a counter service selling cheese, butter and meats weighed by sales assistants. –sarah l
1960 they started selling household goods and clothing in their stores across the UK. In the same year, tesco acquired 212 branches of Irwin stores in the north of England.
-sarah j
1968
The term 'superstore' was first used when they opened their store in Crawley, West Sussex. It was 40,000 sq. ft. in size and sold food and non-food goods. In the same year, we bought the Victor Value chain. - camille
1973
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