People are only just realising what Tesco actually stands for

Most of the UK would recognise the Tesco brand at first sight - but fans of the leading supermarket are only just discovering the meaning behind its household name.

One of the biggest supermarket brands in Britain, millions shop at Tesco stores every day. We're all so used to seeing the big logo in our villages, towns and cities, with those big red letters and blue underline, that few of us have considered where the title actually came from.

It turns out the origin of the supermarket's title goes back over a century to the man who first set the store up, reports the Mirror. Tesco was founded in 1919 by a man called Jack Cohen who was the son of Jewish migrants from Poland.

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To get his first day's stock for the stall, he used demobilisation money from the Royal Flying Corp, which he was a part of during World War One. The name Tesco first came to be as a result of Cohen buying a shipment of tea in 1923 from a man called Thomas Edward Stockwell.

In a nod to his suppliers, the founder combined 'TES' with the initial two letters of his surname, culminating in the name that we all recognise today - Tesco. His first store opened its doors in Edgware, North London in 1929 and, within a mere decade, he was the proud owner of a hundred stores, thus cementing the Tesco name on the map.

The first large-scale iteration of Tesco wasn't far behind, launching in Essex in 1958. Initially, Cohen was somewhat sceptical regarding the supermarket retail model.

However, he soon came around to the concept, understanding the necessity for bulk buying and selling. The brand's evolution from humble corner shop to nationwide supermarket chain is summarised by the Tesco website: "The new format store included a counter service selling cheese, butter and meats weighed by sales assistants."

Despite Cohen's passing in 1979, his momentous legacy endures, with Tesco being omnipresent across numerous towns throughout the UK, boasting a total of over 4,000 branches.

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