Tesco will have to slow down the rollout of its US Fresh & Easy stores because of the grim financial situation in America, one of its executives has said today.
Fresh & Easy chief executive Tim Mason said the recession in the US means Tesco will have to rein in its expansion plans there – after Wal-Mart did the same recently.
He told the Times the company will have to show more prudence in the country in the coming months because the industry is in a “very different place” than it was a few years ago.
Mason said: “We will still open stores every week, but it’s prudent to slow things down a bit.
“There’s a big cost step for us when we open up northern California and we can be quite flexible about when we do that.”
He added: “If the economy takes a turn for the worst, it would be unwise to accelerate.”
At the end of October, Tesco said it will open 11 Fresh & Easy stores in the Arizona area of America.
