Editing Tesco (section)

===Origins===
[[Jack Cohen (businessman)|Jack Cohen]], the son of Jewish migrants from Poland, founded Tesco in 1919 when he began to sell war-surplus groceries from a stall at Well Street Market, [[London Borough of Hackney|Hackney]], in the [[East End of London]].<ref name="Tescohistsite">{{cite web |title=History |url=http://www.tescoplc.com/index.asp?pageid=11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130208152825/http://www.tescoplc.com/index.asp?pageid=11 |archive-date=8 February 2013 |access-date=22 January 2015 |publisher=Tesco PLC}}</ref> The Tesco brand first appeared in 1924. The name came about after Jack Cohen bought a shipment of tea from ''Thomas Edward Stockwell''. He made new labels using the initials of the supplier's name (TES), and the first two letters of his surname (CO), forming the word TESCO.<ref name="Tescohistsite" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/people-only-just-realising-what-29139480|title=People are only just realising what Tesco actually stands for|date=11 May 2024|newspaper=Edinburgh Live|access-date=4 April 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.mylondon.news/whats-on/shopping/bizarre-way-tescos-creator-came-19023096|title=The bizarre way Tesco's creator came up with the supermarket's name|date=3 October 2020|newspaper=My London|access-date=4 April 2025}}</ref>

After experimenting with his first permanent indoor market stall at [[Tooting]] in November 1930, Jack Cohen opened the first Tesco shop in September 1931 at 54 Watling Avenue, [[Burnt Oak]], [[Edgware]], [[Middlesex]].<ref name="Jack Cohen">Maurice Corina: “Pile It High Sell It Cheap: The Authorised Biography of Sir Jack Cohen”, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1971</ref><ref name="Shirley Porter">{{cite book |last=Hosken |first=Andrew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kqojsTUz9E8C&q=shirley+porter+nothing+like+a+dame+tesco+burnt+oak+1931&pg=PA9 |title=Nothing Like a Dame: The Scandals of Shirley Porter |publisher=Granta |year=2007 |isbn=9781862079229 |access-date=15 October 2020 |archive-date=6 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806193632/https://books.google.com/books?id=kqojsTUz9E8C&q=shirley+porter+nothing+like+a+dame+tesco+burnt+oak+1931&pg=PA9 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Sarah Ryle">{{cite book |last=Ryle |first=Sarah |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B5Jz1GUbki4C&q=tesco+first+store+burnt+oak+1931+books&pg=PT18 |title=The Making of Tesco: A story of British Shopping |publisher=Random House |year=2013 |isbn=9781448127474 |access-date=15 October 2020 |archive-date=6 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806193733/https://books.google.com/books?id=B5Jz1GUbki4C&q=tesco+first+store+burnt+oak+1931+books&pg=PT18 |url-status=live }}</ref> Tesco was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1947 as Tesco Stores (Holdings) Limited.<ref name="Tescohistsite" /> The first self-service shop opened in [[St Albans]] in 1948 (which remained operational until 2010 before relocating to larger premises on the same street, with a period as a Tesco Metro),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://heritagecalling.com/2023/01/12/how-englands-first-self-service-store-heralded-the-birth-of-the-modern-supermarket/|title=How England's First Self-Service Store Heralded the Birth of the Modern Supermarket|author=Historic England|website=Heritage Calling|date=12 January 2023}}</ref> and the first supermarket in [[Maldon, Essex|Maldon]] in 1956.<ref name="Tescohistsite" />