Tesco was set up in 1919 by a man called Jack Cohen. He started to sell food left un-sold after his market stall was closed every day. His stall was in East London. Mr. Cohen was in the Flying Corps in World War 1.
After the war when he was demobed (released from the army after conscription) he got some money for the time he served. He used this money to buy his stock to sell from his market stall.
Today Tesco have a very successful own brand food supply. The first Tesco own brand product was tea. The name Tesco comes from the name of TE Stockwell and CO from Mr. Cohen's second name. TE Stockwell was a man in the tea selling company that Mr. Cohen bought his Tesco own-brand tea from.
In 1929 the first actual Tesco shop was in Burnt Oak, Edgware in North London. Since then the business has never looked back becoming a global giant in the world of of supermarkets. Mr. Cohen was knighted in 1969 and became Sir Jack Cohen. His business motto was ''Pile it high, sell it cheap''. He died in 1979 at the age of 80.
To get a full time line of Tesco's history click on this link; Tesco Timeline
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| Jack Cohen, founder of Tesco
Picture from www.tescoplc.com
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