Effects of the local Tesco Superstore

Authors Avatar

1920-50

Tesco was founded by Jack Cohen, by selling groceries from a stall in the East End of London, he firstly made a profit of £1 after selling £4 worth of goods. The name 'Tesco' was a mixture of his partner in tea supplies (TES) and CO from his own surname. 1929 saw the first store (Burnt Oak) and three years later, Tesco became a private limited company. 1934 headquarters and warehouse was opened in the North of London. 1947 Tesco has a share price of 25p on the stock market. In 1956, the first self-services opened in Maldon.

1st Self service store, St.Albians

1960s

Tesco now owns 356 stores in the UK. The Leicester store becomes the largest store in Europe in 1961 according to the Guinness book of world records..

1970s

In 1974 petrol stations were opened at major stores and by late 70's, annual sales reach £1 billion. 

1980s

Just 3 years later, the annual sales doubled.

1983 the company becomes Tesco PLC

In 1982 computerised checkouts were introduced

1990s

Tesco enters European and eastern countries such as Hungary, Ireland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and South Korea.

1995 it becomes lead marketing food retailer.

 2000s

Tesco enters even more countries. The company launches its internet services. It also opens in many more countries: Malaysia, Japan, Turkey, China and the US

This graph shows how many stores are in each country, excluding the UK

Since 2003, compared to the present, there is 38 changes.

This graph shows gives us a picture that Tesco doesn’t seem to have much effect. Many of these changed have their own explanation. Places like Victoria Wine and Hawg & Herps have simply changed their names. Other smaller businesses such as C&G mobile coms are liable to go out of business; South Wigston seems to be the kind of place to buy a cheap shop to try and get a business off of the ground, this is another reason for the rapid turnover.

A lot of these shops, it is unsure to say if Tesco has had any affect on. Some of the shops have been demolished and turned into accommodation; maybe this is because it is hard for those services to be noticed down such streets or because there is a demand for accommodation, or possibly even a mixture of the two! Another bunch of shops have been demolished in order to create a site for the new South Leicestershire College.

An obvious change due to Tesco is the Kwiksave. This is not just local however; all UK store have been shut due to the fact they have too much competition and are financially unable to fight back. Major stores such as Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s are thought to be responsible. I think Davies fruits which was next to Kwiksave was also shut due to Tesco producing the same goods at better prices.

Tesco's wide variety of stock means that not many stores can open being able to be successful nor original.

This was once Kwiksave

South Wigston consists of 100 shops and services, laid out on a small narrow road named Blaby Road which has various other streets leading off of it, providing some of the shops and services. South Wigston does offer essential weekly items for both accommodation and lifestyle for the residents living in the area, however Considering that South Wigston has this many services, it doesn't actually seem to offer that much.

If I were to think to go shopping, South Wigston really wouldn't spring to mind and would probably be at the bottom of my list. I would say that it's not really a place suited for every age group, as there isn't that much to offer to any kind of age group. Walking or driving into South Wigston wouldn't really attract you to stop, as some of the shops seem really old, it's not a very nice eye sight and there seems to be evidence of youth and gangs by the graffiti etc.

The main services in South Wigston are fast food take-aways’. Indian, Chinese, Burgers and kebabs. None of which to me look very appetising and wouldn't be to a number of others. However the locals use them regularly proving to be handy and maybe also to the younger generation chose to hang around on the streets, perhaps to the locals who use the pub too. A negative to these services is that they tend to produce a lot of the litter in the streets from the users being either careless or lazy.

The place as a whole seems fairly small and cramped area. The majority of the services are all on one main, busy, long road with heavy traffic making it more inconvenient than being in somewhere like bell street Wigston. It is less safe. Also shops are more spread out making it less appealing.

South Wigston doesn't really offer everyday sort of things like clothes and money services. This really drags the centre down.

Join now!

This is a pie chart giving an overall look of what the provision is like.


Tesco decided that they wanted to open a new superstore in the Wigston area. Many various factors had to be considered to guarantee the success of the new location; which is why in 2001 a proposal was made to build on the derelict land which was once Forstells hosiery factory on the main Blaby road.

The size of the ...

This is a preview of the whole essay