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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Tesco
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Britain's largest chain of food retailers. It was founded by Jack Cohen (1898–1979), son of an immigrant Jewish tailor from Poland, who used the £30 given him on demobilization after World War I to start up a street market food stall in the London district of Hackney. He sold a great deal of tea and created his own brand by using the initials of his supplier (T.E. Stockwell) and the first two letters of Cohen to form the word Tesco.
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Under this name he opened in 1931 his first two grocery shops in London's suburbs; by World War II there were about 100 Tesco stores in and around the capital. After the war Cohen pioneered in Britain the American retailing method of self-service and check-out tills. The title of his authorized biography stated his marketing philosophy – Pile it High, Sell it Cheap (1971). By the early 1990s the firm had nearly 200 superstores in England, Wales and Scotland, and about the same number of smaller premises. This range was greatly extended in 1994 when Tesco outbid *Sainsbury to acquire the William Low chain of 57 supermarkets in Scotland.
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