Shoppers have given Tesco’s new discount store a big thumbs up as they picked up cut-price groceries and homeware goods
Hundreds queued up in the rain as the first Jack’s discount store opened for business today, with customers boasting that prices are ‘on a par with Lidl and Aldi’.
The store in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire, opened its doors to the public first thing this morning alongside a second store in Immingham, north-east Lincolnshire.
The new brand is being widely hailed as a challenger to Aldi and fellow discount store Lidl, which have eaten into the market share of Britain’s so called ‘big four’ supermarkets.
The Chatteris store enjoyed a successful first morning with hundreds pouring through the doors when it opened to the public at 10am.
By 11am the budget supermarket was overflowing with customers, filling their trollies with food, as well as bargain household items such as televisions from the When It’s Gone It’s Gone aisle.
Shopper Delia Fernandez, 41, arrived at 3am to be first in line at the Chatteris store, and told of her pride at picking up a backpack for just £5.
Tesco has launched its new discount store format called Jack’s as it attempts to take the fight to German discounters Aldi and Lidl
Jack’s has certainly proved popular, but how do prices compare with rivals such as Asda, Aldi, Lidl and Sainsbury’s?
The store will also have special buy bins, similar to those seen in Aldi and Lidl, which will be called ‘when they’re gone, they’re gone’ bins
Hundreds of shoppers queued up as Tesco’s first new Jack’s discount stores opened for business today in Cambridgeshire
Shopper Delia Fernandez (pictured) arrived at 3am to be first in line at the Chatteris store, which opened at 10am with a ribbon cutting and a shower of confetti
First customer Lee Fuller shows off his bill. The vast majority of Jack’s products will be own brand, as Tesco looks to take the fight to budget behemoths Lidl and Aldi
‘I wanted to see the different bargains that they’ve got and to have a good look,’ she said.
‘There is so much stuff in the middle isle bargain bins that I will be coming back to get. There are some real steals in there. My backpack was only £5 and I think that is really good and great value.’
Emily Tyas, 32, from Chatteris, who works as a school supervisor, said: ‘I bought a whole load of fresh bakery goods that were so well priced and seem to be great quality.
‘I also bought an iron. I would say that the prices are round about on par with Lidl and Aldi. I liked the look of the bargain bins. There are so many little goodies that I will be coming to get for the kids at Christmas.’
Lee Fuller, 36 who works for a recycling company, was the first customer through the tills. He said: ‘I just thought I would stop by this morning to see what it was all about.
‘I didn’t think I would be the first customer to buy something. The shop looks pretty good inside. I did not expect it to be so visually pleasing but it looks very nice inside. I picked up a few household goods and a TV.’
Chef Alison Birch, 47 from Bracknell, added: ‘It is such a rare thing in the food industry to have a new retail outlet launching and I want to see how it stacks up against the other discount stores.
‘I think that it is great that they are promoting British food and eight out of ten of their products are British which is excellent for local farmers and food production companies.
‘It will be interesting to see what happens with the other budget stores in the area. The question will be whether Tesco can compete and judging by today, I think they can.’
Alison Birch (left) was one of the first through the door, and said Jack’s looked capable of competing with other budget stores, while Stephanie Allen (right) said the bargain bins ‘were great’
Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis denied that the British-made emphasis at Jack’s has anything to do with Brexit, adding that it’s ‘what customers want’ and the plan was formulated pre-Brexit
Tesco said that eight out of 10 Jack’s food and drink products will be ‘grown, reared or made’ in Britain and stores will stock an own brand range, also branded Jack’s
Up to 15 stores will open over the next year, with five existing Tesco properties being repurposed and the remainder being new outlets
Jack’s will offer named brand items along with hundreds of own-brand products, with baked beans costing just 29p a tin
Housewife Stephanie Allen, 54 from Chatteris, added: ‘The bargain bins were great, I did not get anything from there today but I am a dreadful one for the middle isle and I will be back to have a good look through them when it is less busy.
‘I came here today because I want to compare the prices to the Aldi down the road and to see if the quality is any better. Really for me it is the branded stuff because that is what Aldi lacks so I want to see what is extra.
‘Having a Jacks here now will be great for competition and will hopefully keep prices down in other places. We can just hope it does not jeopardise the quality of the food.’
Retired mechanic Mark Burton, 48, of Chatteris, said: ‘It’s more competition, bringing in better prices for the town.’
Up to 15 of the stores, named after Tesco founder Jack Cohen, will open over the next year.
Most products will be Jack’s own brand and the chain will have 2,600 lines.
Retired builder William McPherson, 72, of Chatteris, said: ‘There’s a good selection of goods there.’
He added prices were ‘comparable with Aldi’ and he liked the layout – ‘there’s plenty of room so you’re not crammed up’.
The launch of Jack’s is part of Tesco’s centenary celebrations which will see the business mark 100 years in 2019.
Lee Fuller, 36 who works for a recycling company, was the first customer through the tills, and bought a flat-screen television
Tesco hope that Jack’s will take on German duo Aldi and Lidl, which have eaten up their market share by offering products at knock down prices
Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis is pictured posing at a checkout till at the new Jack’s store in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire
That added to the protection when it finally registered in the UK last December and the EU in April using an obscure subsidiary known as PTLL.
But a delay in the EU application process appears to have led to a slip-up over dates.
Sarah Redmond, trademark director at Fox Williams, said: ‘Their logo is still open to objections for another month so further oppositions could be filed against this application.’
More than 15 complaints have already been registered in both the UK and the EU against the name and, separately, the brand’s red logo.
Lawyers said anyone who thinks the new logo is similar to their own has until October 17 to file a complaint at the EU’s Intellectual Property Office.
It means the discount chain will be trading for four weeks during which the legal position over its trademark will be wide open to new complaints – which one trademark source described as ‘absolute madness’.
The launch of Jack’s is part of Tesco’s centenary celebrations which will see the business mark 100 years in 2019. Jack Cohen founded Tesco 99 years ago in 1919
The store will look to offer less choice for smaller prices, as shoppers increasingly favour convenience stores rather than the large-format supermarkets
Who was Tesco founder Jack Cohen? The pioneer of ‘pile it high and sell it cheap’
Tesco traces its roots back to 1919, when 20-year-old Jack Cohen began selling groceries from a stall in London’s East End.
Born in 1898, Cohen grew up in Whitechapel, east London, the child of Jewish parents.
He began his working life as an apprentice tailor to his father but the pair eventually became estranged after Cohen informed him of his wish to begin a career as a grocer.
In 1917, he volunteered to join the Royal Flying Corps where his tailoring skills were employed by senior officers to make balloons and other aircraft.
After a military career that saw him serve in Egypt, Palestine and France, he was eventually demobilised in 1919 after contracting malaria and returned to England.
Upon returning after the First World War, he was reluctant to continue his work as a tailor, and set up a marker stall in Hackney purchasing surplus NAAFI (Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes) stock with his £30 demob money.
He soon owned a number of stalls and set up a wholesale business.
He came up with the Tesco name in 1924 after buying a shipment of tea to start selling his first own-label products.
Cohen used the initials from the tea supplier TE Stockwell and combined them with ‘Co’ from his surname, creating the soon-to-be famous brand name of ‘TESCo’.
After marrying Sarah ‘Cissie’ Fox in the same year, he opened the first Tesco in Edgware in 1929 and by 1939 owned 100 stores.
Father-of-two Cohen, knighted in 1969, became known for his motto ‘pile it high and sell it cheap’. He died aged 80 in 1979.
After marrying Sarah ‘Cissie’ Fox (pictured), Cohen opened the first Tesco in Edgware in 1929 and by 1939 he would own 100 stores