About

It has stores in 14 countries across Asia, Europe and North America and is the grocery market leader in the UK (where it has a market share of around 30%), Malaysia and Thailand.

The chain was founded by Jack Cohen in 1919. The brand first appeared after Cohen bought a shipment of tea from T.E. Stockwell and he used those initials and added the first two letters of his own surname. The first Tesco store was opened in 1929 in Burnt Oak, Edgware, Middlesex. Originally a UK-focused retailer specialising in food and drink, it has diversified both geographically and by product, into areas such as clothing, electronics, financial services, telecoms, home, health, car and dental insurance, retailing and renting DVDs, CDs, music downloads, Internet services and software.