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Tesco Ireland is the Irish subsidiary of supermarket group
Tesco Tesco plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues an ...
. Tesco Ireland was formed by
Tesco Tesco plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues an ...
plc's 1997 purchase of the Irish retailing operations of
Associated British Foods Associated British Foods plc (ABF) is a British multinational food processing and retailing company headquartered in London, England. Its ingredients division is the world's second-largest producer of both sugar and baker's yeast and a major ...
, namely Powers' Supermarkets Limited and its subsidiaries, trading as "Quinnsworth" and "Crazy Prices". There are 152 Tesco stores in operation in Ireland as of August 2018. Tesco had approximately 21% of the Irish grocery market in 2019 and its main competitors are
Dunnes Stores Dunnes Stores is an Irish multinational retail chain that primarily sells food, clothes and household wares. In addition to its main customer base in Ireland, the chain also has operations in Spain, and formerly in England and Scotland. The fo ...
and SuperValu. Tesco operates full-sized supermarkets under the main "Tesco" brand, smaller urban stores under the "Tesco Metro" banner, hypermarkets as "Tesco Extra", a small number of convenience stores as "Tesco Express" as well as an
internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, p ...
shopping service, Tesco.ie. It previously operated several
petrol stations A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel. Gasolin ...
, which were divested in 2019 to DCC plc. In 2007 the company launched its
mobile telephone A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can make and receive calls over a radio frequency link while ...
service, "Tesco Mobile". Tesco Ireland operated a number of 24-hour stores but have abandoned 24-hour opening as of 2014 with all stores closed from 12 midnight to 6 am.


History


Quinnsworth era

The company was founded as "Quinnsworth" by Pat Quinn in 1966, and was later sold to Power Supermarkets. During the 1970s the slogan used was "Let's get it all together at Quinnsworth". Power Supermarkets Ltd. became the parent company but used Quinnsworth as its marketing name. The company became a wholly owned subsidiary of Associated British Foods plc. Quinnsworth is remembered for its choice of store sites, its most memorable act was the addition of the phrase
Yellow Pack Yellow Pack was a brand of generic groceries, first launched in March 1980 by Fine Fare, a British regional supermarket chain ultimately owned by the Weston family, whose extensive interests include the UK's Associated British Foods, Loblaw Compan ...
to the retailing
lexicon A lexicon is the vocabulary of a language or branch of knowledge (such as nautical or medical). In linguistics, a lexicon is a language's inventory of lexemes. The word ''lexicon'' derives from Greek word (), neuter of () meaning 'of or fo ...
. Towards the end of Quinnsworth's life, Yellow Pack was replaced by K.V.I. label as the low-cost generic grocery brand, and a high quality generic line called Premium Choice modeled after Loblaws
President's Choice President's Choice (French: Le choix du Président) or PC are a line of grocery products or services offered by a Canada based company, Loblaw Companies Ltd. The various products are available at the companies retail locations. History Pre ...
(Loblaws being owned by another branch of the
Weston family The Weston family is a prominent Canadian-origin family of businesspeople with global interests primarily in food and clothing ventures. The family operations began with the purchase of a bakery in 1884 by American-born Canadian George Weston in ...
). Quinnsworth was also remembered for its advertising campaigns featuring its marketing director (and later chief executive)
Maurice Pratt Yellow Pack was a brand of generic groceries, first launched in March 1980 by Fine Fare, a British regional supermarket chain ultimately owned by the Weston family, whose extensive interests include the UK's Associated British Foods, Loblaw Compan ...
, who would personally introduce new product promotions, ending each advert with the company slogan, "That's Real Value". Crazy Prices (occasionally Super Crazy Prices) was a brand used by Quinnsworth on some of its larger outlets. These were known for their cheap prices. Crazy Prices was one of the first retailers in Ireland to introduce late night opening (until 9pm) on Wednesdays, dubbing this night "Crazy Night" and running special in-store promotions. Until the mid-1990s, most Irish retailers only opened late one night a week, usually Thursday (in
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
city) or Friday. KVI branding was Crazy Prices equivalent to the Quinnsworth Yellow pack. It came in blue red and white striped packaging. K.V.I. stood for "Keen Value Item" and was the equivalent of the previous Quinnsworth
Yellow Pack Yellow Pack was a brand of generic groceries, first launched in March 1980 by Fine Fare, a British regional supermarket chain ultimately owned by the Weston family, whose extensive interests include the UK's Associated British Foods, Loblaw Compan ...
, except perhaps even further downmarket.


Tesco era

On 6 May 1997, Tesco acquired the retailing and supply chain operations of
Associated British Foods Associated British Foods plc (ABF) is a British multinational food processing and retailing company headquartered in London, England. Its ingredients division is the world's second-largest producer of both sugar and baker's yeast and a major ...
- with the sole exception of
Primark Primark Stores Limited (; trading as Penneys in the Republic of Ireland) is an Irish multinational fast fashion retailer with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. It has stores across Europe and in the United States. The Penneys brand is not us ...
- for £643 million. The grocery businesses acquired were those held by Comar Limited in the Republic of Ireland and Stewarts Supermarkets Limited in Northern Ireland. Comar was the parent company of Powers Supermarkets Ltd (trading as Quinnsworth) and Crazy Prices in the Republic of Ireland. Stewarts Supermarkets included Crazy Prices in Northern Ireland. Other businesses acquired were the Stewarts Wine Barrel off-licence chain, the sports goods retailer
Lifestyle Sports Life Style Sports, officially Lifestyle Sports (Ireland) Limited is Ireland's largest sports retailer, operating 46 outlets spread across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. They stock sporting goods and sport fashions. History Lif ...
, the meat processing and packing business Kingsway Fresh Foods Ltd. and the Fresh fruit and vegetable distributor Daily Wrap Produce Ltd. The Northern Ireland operations were folded into Tesco's core UK business, while the Republic of Ireland operations became Tesco Ireland. Lifestyle Sports was demerged in 1997 via a
management buy-out A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management-, and/or leveraged buyout became noted phenomena of 19 ...
of seven directors and the venture capital company, ACT. Stewarts Wine Barrel was sold to United Wine Merchants. After the acquisition of Power Supermarkets (PSL) by Tesco, the company name changed to "Tesco Ireland Limited". The first signs of the new regime was the almost immediate introduction of the Tesco own-brand (with advertising stating "Tesco at Quinnsworth and Crazy Prices"), with the completion of the phasing out of Yellow Pack and the other PSL own-brands such as KVI and Premium Choice. Maurice Pratt stayed on as chief executive of the Irish operations. Over the next few years, the Quinnsworth and Crazy Prices chains were rebranded as Tesco Ireland, using a white-on-blue variation of the familiar Tesco logo. The first store to open under the Tesco name was in
Athlone Athlone (; ) is a town on the border of County Roscommon and County Westmeath, Ireland. It is located on the River Shannon near the southern shore of Lough Ree. It is the second most populous town in the Midlands Region with a population of ...
in 1997. The changeover was at first relatively slow, with the Quinnsworth and Crazy Prices names continuing to appear on adverts for some time after the launch of the new company identity. Tesco's initial policy was not to change the name over the door until the store had been upgraded to Tesco's standards, in some older stores this meant a significant rebuild of the premises. The first fully rebuilt store opened in
Maynooth Maynooth (; ga, Maigh Nuad) is a university town in north County Kildare, Ireland. It is home to Maynooth University (part of the National University of Ireland and also known as the National University of Ireland, Maynooth) and St Patrick's ...
in 2000, which has since been redeveloped again as a Tesco Extra. Some older stores continued to trade under the Quinnsworth and Crazy Prices name until the early 2000s. In 2001, Maurice Pratt, who had been the public face of Quinnsworth, left the company to become chief executive of C&C, later taking up a post as chairman of
Bank of Scotland (Ireland) Bank of Scotland (Ireland) Limited was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bank of Scotland, which later became part of Lloyds Banking Group. It offered commercial and corporate banking services under the Bank of Scotland brand and retail banking se ...
. He was replaced by Gordon Fryett. In the late 2000s, Tesco Ireland gradually rebranded as simply "Tesco", using the regular red-on-white Tesco logo. The company opened its first Irish "Tesco Extra" hypermarket at the Clare Hall Shopping Centre in Coolock, north Dublin in 2004, and has also branched into filling stations. Many stores are now also open 24 hours. The company has also moved into the convenience store market, with the first a converted Quinnsworth (then the smallest store in the chain) in Drumcondra, opened as a "Tesco Local". This was the only store to use this brand, as subsequent new convenience stores use the "Tesco Express" brand instead. Tesco has also expanded its product range in Ireland. The Tesco Extra hypermarkets, as well as larger Tesco stores, now stock a range of
clothing Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials and natura ...
,
electrical Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...
goods,
music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...
, DVDs and
video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedba ...
s, as well as
newspapers A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, spor ...
,
magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...
s, and
toy A toy or plaything is an object that is used primarily to provide entertainment. Simple examples include toy blocks, board games, and dolls. Toys are often designed for use by children, although many are designed specifically for adults and pet ...
s. Tesco's largest hypermarket in
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
is in
Naas Naas ( ; ga, Nás na Ríogh or ) is the county town of County Kildare in Ireland. In 2016, it had a population of 21,393, making it the second largest town in County Kildare after Newbridge. History The name of Naas has been recorded in th ...
Co Kildare County Kildare ( ga, Contae Chill Dara) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the cou ...
, it was opened on 1 November 2010. It is the first in
Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...
to have a Tesco Pharmacy.


Tesco.ie

In October 2000, Tesco Ireland launched its Tesco.ie online shopping service for the
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
area. The service expanded and by the end of the decade it was available nationwide.


Criticisms


Operations

Tesco Ireland has come in for increased criticism for apparently high prices in its Irish stores. However, there have been general criticisms of the similar pricing between Irish supermarkets, and economic reports noting the high prices in Ireland generally. Research from Forfas, concluded that only a five per cent difference in the cost of goods between North and South was justifiable. Despite claims from Tesco that it matched prices in the Republic of Ireland with prices in
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...
, a November 2009 survey by ''Consumers Choice'' magazine has claimed that, on average, prices are still 18% more expensive in the Republic In June 2012,
Eurostat Eurostat ('European Statistical Office'; DG ESTAT) is a Directorate-General of the European Commission located in the Kirchberg, Luxembourg, Kirchberg quarter of Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Eurostat's main responsibilities are to provide stati ...
blamed "overly dominant supermarkets" as a factor why Ireland is the fifth most expensive nation in the EU in terms of supermarket prices. Tesco increased the prices of some well-known products significantly just weeks into 2011 before reducing them as part of a 1,000-product price promotion launched in March 2011. Tesco Ireland was one of seven shops fined for failing to display prices properly by the National Consumer Agency in July 2008. Tesco apologised for selling anti-Jewish literature to customers in Ireland. Sheikh Dr Shaheed Satardien, head of the Muslim Council of Ireland, said this was effectively "polluting the minds of impressionable young slamicpeople with hate and anger towards the Jewish community". The supermarket refused in 2002 to stock any of the million postcards which were aimed at closing the controversial
nuclear reprocessing Nuclear reprocessing is the chemical separation of fission products and actinides from spent nuclear fuel. Originally, reprocessing was used solely to extract plutonium for producing nuclear weapons. With commercialization of nuclear power, th ...
plant at
Sellafield Sellafield is a large multi-function nuclear site close to Seascale on the coast of Cumbria, England. As of August 2022, primary activities are nuclear waste processing and storage and nuclear decommissioning. Former activities included nuc ...
in Cumbria, in England. Competing retailers did sell the postcards. Tesco tried to hide its policy of buying directly from UK suppliers. An internal document said that ensuring its policy of taking deliveries directly from UK suppliers went unnoticed and "invisible to the Irish customer" was a key objective. At the same time the Irish Farmers' Association president said there was deep anger about Tesco's decision to displace local produce with imports "will inevitably lead to thousands of job losses and will put Irish producers of local, fresh produce out of business," In 2008 The Irish Independent reported that roles in Tesco Ireland's head office in
Dún Laoghaire Dún Laoghaire ( , ) is a suburban coastal town in Dublin in Ireland. It is the administrative centre of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. The town was built following the 1816 legislation that allowed the building of a major port to serve Dubli ...
were being redeployed to the UK and outsourced to India. ''
The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
'' commented in April 2011 that "Increasingly, Ireland is being viewed as a provincial backwater by the parent company – albeit a very profitable little backwater – and all the strategic decisions are being taken in the UK. Tesco used the slogan "Change for Good" as advertising, which is trademarked by
Unicef UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to c ...
for charity usage but is not trademarked for commercial or retail use which prompted the agency to say "it is the first time in Unicef's history that a commercial entity has purposely set out to capitalise on one of our campaigns and subsequently damage an income stream which several of our programmes for children are dependent on". They went on to call on the public "who have children’s welfare at heart, to consider carefully who they support when making consumer choices". Large supermarket chains were accused by
Fine Gael Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil É ...
of putting up to 100,000 Irish jobs at risk by forcing suppliers to pay €160 million a year in "hello money". The company was the subject of claims in February 2010 of demanding up to €500,000 per supplier for stocking goods. The leader of the Labour Party described the practice as "outrageous extortion" and was "like the kind of thing you expect to see in ''
The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster, portraying his difficulties as he tries to balance ...
''." In early 2011, Tesco warned Irish publishers that it would ban their books from its shelves if they did not comply with its rules. A bestseller, which sparked the controversy over the revelation about Sean FitzPatrick's golf meeting with Taoiseach Brian Cowen, was published in secret and distributed directly to
Easons Eason Retail PLC, known as Easons or Eason, is an Irish retail company best known for selling books, stationery, cards, gifts, newspapers and magazines. Headquartered in Swords, County Dublin, it is the largest supplier of books, magazines and ne ...
and selected bookstores—but not to Tesco or other supermarkets. The secret last-minute delivery was organised to avoid any legal complications that might have prevented publication. Tesco said "if we find evidence of this happening (again), the offending publisher will have all their titles removed from sale and returned". One publisher pointed out that Tesco sometimes implements exclusive deals itself. Tesco was convicted of a breach of consumer law for not displaying the right price of goods in October 2011. In January 2012, a former Tesco employee was awarded damages at the Employment Appeals Tribunal where he claimed there was a link between his dismissal and his HIV status. Tesco stated that he was dismissed for gross misconduct, i.e. consuming a product without paying for it. In February 2013 it was reported that staff at a Tesco warehouse were made to wear digital arm-band devices that monitor their performance. Tesco was branded "hypocritical" by Irish poultry farmers for its commitment to source all UK-sold fresh poultry from the UK, but not doing the same in Ireland. This is putting pressure on prices in Ireland as surplus poultry meat from the UK is being dumped on the market.


Marketing and advertising

The Irish Advertising Standards Authority in January 2009 found that Tesco Ireland advertising was misleading. Britain's Advertising Standards Authority said a leaflet produced by Tesco Ireland Ltd, was ‘‘irresponsible’’ and breached clauses in the advertising code on substantiation and weight control in May 2010. Tesco pleaded guilty and was fined, after sending unsolicited marketing emails to a number of customers and for having a problem with the email "opt-out" option.


Food safety

The
Food Safety Authority of Ireland __NOTOC__ The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) ( ga, Údarás Sábháilteachta Bia na hÉireann – USBE) is the statutory body responsible for ensuring food produced, distributed or marketed in Ireland complies with food safety and hygiene ...
, has on a number of occasions ordered the recall of Tesco branded products, including a case of glass contamination. Environmental Health Officers served a closure order on Tesco's store in Prussia Street, Dublin, the day after they inspected it, for a number of breaches of Food Hygiene Regulations. Most food is imported from Britain, where the BBC's Whistleblower programme showed undercover footage showing the sale of products after their sell-by date; allegations that the company illegally sold 'back-labelled' products after their use by date; falsification of temperature records; and the sale of partially-cooked
mince Mince may refer to: * MINCE, an early text editor for CP/M microcomputers * Mincing, a food preparation technique in which food ingredients are finely divided * Ground meat, also known as ''mince'', meat that has been minced ** Ground beef, also ...
mixed with uncooked mince. In May 2012 it pleaded guilty to selling " gone off" (decayed or rotten) meat and the next month was prosecuted and fined for breaches of consumer law. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland found horse meat, consumption of which is considered
taboo A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...
in Ireland, accounted for approximately 29% of the meat content in beef burger products from Tesco in January 2013.


Financial performance

Tesco's Irish profit margin was 9.3 per cent in 2008, making the Irish operation Tesco's most successful worldwide in margin terms.


Tesco Mobile

On 26 October 2007, Tesco Ireland announced that 'An extensive range of Tesco Mobile prepay handsets will be rolled out to 48 Tesco stores from Monday 29 October'. Tesco Mobile launched as a
MVNO A mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) is a wireless communications services provider that does not own the wireless network infrastructure over which it provides services to its customers. An MVNO enters into a business agreement with a mobile ...
''piggy-backing'' on the O2 Network in Ireland. It has also outsourced the running of Tesco Mobile to Fujitsu Ireland. The network uses the 089 prefix. Up to March 2015, Tesco Mobile Ireland operated as a MVNO on the O2 Ireland network. O2 Ireland has since been purchased and merged with
Three Ireland Three Ireland, officially Three Ireland (Hutchison) Limited (formerly Hutchison 3G Ireland Ltd), is a telecommunications and internet service provider operating in Ireland as a subsidiary of CK Hutchison, operating under the global Three ...
and as a result, Tesco Mobile now operates as a MVNO on the
Three Ireland Three Ireland, officially Three Ireland (Hutchison) Limited (formerly Hutchison 3G Ireland Ltd), is a telecommunications and internet service provider operating in Ireland as a subsidiary of CK Hutchison, operating under the global Three ...
Network with 99.6% coverage.


See also

*
Tesco Tesco plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues an ...


References


External links


Tesco.ie

Tesco Bank

Tesco Mobile

{{Authority control Tesco Supermarkets of the Republic of Ireland Retail companies established in 1966 Irish companies established in 1966