Tesco opening 70 new stores as they take over other supermarket

Tesco is planning to open 70 new Express stores across the UK after snapping up former sites of another supermarket. They are wanting to open the new stores before March 2027.

It comes after 60 new stores were delivered last year. Tesco is adding to its list of stores by taking over Amazon Fresh sites. The supermarket will turn the former Amazon stores in London’s Kensington High Street, Hounslow, Moorgate, Aldgate East and Wembley into Tesco Express.

The new London stores will open before the summer. Tesco also has plans to open Express sites in Bickington (Devon), Pontrhydyrun (Torfaen), Strabane (County Tyrone) and Wallyford (East Lothian).

It follows the openings of new superstores across Yorkshire as Tesco unveiled its shops in Ripon in November and Harrogate in December.

Nick Johnson, Tesco group property director, said: “As one of the UK’s leading retailers, we support jobs and local economies up and down the UK, and as we grow our store network we’re delighted to have the opportunity to serve even more people, in even more communities.

“We are hugely excited about the year ahead and looking forward to meeting our customers where they are with great quality, exceptional value and brilliant customer service.”

In September last year, Amazon Fresh announced it would be closing all its UK grocery stores. They had 19 sites across London, with around 250 staff reportedly employed.

Amazon Fresh provided a very unique shopping experience as they didn’t have traditional checkouts. The concept was shoppers could walk in, pick up their items and walk out.

An app was used to track what was purchased, as anything you picked up was added to your own virtual basket. At the time, Amazon said it had “made the difficult decision” to close the stores after a “thorough evaluation of business operations and the very substantial growth opportunities in online delivery.”