LONDON – Tesco, Britain’s biggest retailer, said on Monday it would no longer operate stores under the low-cost “Jack’s” brand, less than five years after it established the format amid much fanfare.
The group launched Jack’s, named after Tesco’s founder Jack Cohen, in 2018 at a store in Chatteris, eastern England, as part of its centenary celebrations.
Taking on German-owned discounters Aldi and Lidl, the store focused on simplicity and own-brands to keep costs and prices down. But expansion of the format has been slow.
Tesco said of the 13 Jack’s stores, six will be converted to Tesco superstores, with the remaining seven earmarked for closure in the coming months.
Some 130 roles in the seven stores that are to close and in head office will be affected by the changes. Tesco will try to find them other roles within the company.
“With the learnings from Jack’s now applied, the time is right to focus on ensuring we continue to deliver the best possible value for customers in our core business,” said Tesco UK and Ireland CEO Jason Tarry.
He said the Jack’s brand would live on with Jack’s branded products available to independent convenience stores supplied by Booker, Tesco’s wholesale business.
Tesco also said it would close meat, fish or hot deli counters in a further 317 stores.
There would be no redundancies related to the counter closures as affected colleagues would be offered alternative roles.
Earlier this month, Tesco raised its profit outlook for the second time in four months after better-than-expected Christmas trading.