The Wall Street Journal reports that Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy is saying that it is likely that the company’s first US stores – called Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets, and scheduled to roll out in Southern California, Arizona and Nevada – will be opened in November. Though he’s not saying exactly when in November.
- KC's View:
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Every once in a while I will get an email from an MNB user questioning whether Tesco is all that great a company, and wondering why it can't open stores in the US any faster.
To which I would suggest that the discipline being shown by Tesco is exactly why it should be considered formidable. I suspect that it could have had stores open months ago, but the stores are only one pat of the equation. It is the infrastructure – the sources of fresh, quality and differentiated products – that will really make Tesco unique. It has to make sure that it has its supply chain right before it opens its stores in the US, because it won’t be as simple as ordering another pallet of this or that.
