Tesco is a British multinational grocery and general merchandise retailer with headquarters in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom. It is the third largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and ninth largest measured by revenues. It has stores in 12 countries across Asia and Europe and is the grocery market leader in the UK (where it has a market share of around 28.4%), Ireland, Hungary, Malaysia, and Thailand.
Tesco was founded in 1919 by Jack Cohen as a group of market stalls.
The Tesco name first appeared in 1924, after Cohen bought a shipment of tea from T. E. Stockwell and combined those initials with the first two letters of his surname, and the first Tesco store opened in 1931 in Burnt Oak, Barnet. His business expanded rapidly, and by 1939 he had over 100 Tesco stores across the country.
The company floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1947 as Tesco Stores (Holdings) Ltd. The first self-service store opened in St Albans in 1950, and the first supermarket in Maldon in 1956. In 1961Tesco Leicester made an appearance as Britain’s first ever out-of-town supermarket.
Does Tesco do finance?
Tesco offers a range of financial services including insurance, credit cards, loans and savings products.
