Supermarket giant Tesco has said it will be axing its short-lived Jack’s store format and cutting hundreds of counters, putting 130 jobs across the business at risk.
In a statement, Tesco said 130 roles at the seven Jack’s stores earmarked for closure and at head office would be affected by the changes. The retail giant said it was “working very closely with these colleagues and our priority is to try and find alternative roles at Tesco for all who want to stay with us.”
Staff currently working at the six Jack’s stores set to be converted to Tesco superstores would be automatically offered new roles.
Tesco launched Jack’s in 2018 as a large-site discounter to help it compete with Aldi and Lidl. However the retailer said the pandemic had changed the way that customers chose to shop for groceries, and having “learned a tremendous amount from Jack’s, and with that experience now absorbed into Tesco, the time is right to focus on continuing to deliver great value in our core business.”
The grocer said it had implemented many of these lessons into its Aldi price match scheme, adding that the brand will “live on” through branded products which would be sold to independent convenience store partners through Booker.
Lessons learned
Tesco UK and ROI boss, Jason Tarry said: “We have learnt a huge amount from Jack’s and this has helped Tesco become more competitive, more efficient and strengthened our value proposition, including through the launch of Aldi Price Match. In turn, this has enabled us to consistently attract new customers to Tesco from our competitors over the last two years, and we know they increasingly recognise the value they can find at Tesco. 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.
“Our Jack’s brand will continue to be sold across Booker and our symbol brands, bringing great value and quality to even more customers. We want to thank our Jack’s colleagues for all they have done and taught us. Our priority is to find roles within our wider business for all the colleagues who want to stay with us.”
Tesco also announced that it would be closing meat, fish and hot deli counters in 317 of its stores where it’s seen “lower demand” for such services in order to “repurpose the space to better reflect our customers’ needs”.
The grocer insisted there would be no redundancies as part of this announcement, as all affected staff would be offered alternative roles at Tesco.
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