UK retail giant Tesco has announced the closure of all of its remaining fish, meat and deli counters as part of a series of new measures aimed at ensuring the supermarket chain remains competitive.
Tesco first announced changes to its counters back in 2019 and has been reviewing them on an ongoing basis ever since.
It advised that there has been a “significant decrease in demand” for its counters over the last few years, with customers no longer saying they are a significant reason for them to come in store.
The majority of stores no longer operate any counters. In the small number of stores that do still have them, many have only been open with reduced days and times, Tesco said, adding that it has strengthened in-aisle ranges to ensure customers can still find the meat, fish and deli products they want.
Now, in addition to extending its new management structure across all of its larger stores, Tesco has taken the decision to close all of its remaining counters and hot delis from 26 February.
The space will be repurposed to better reflect customers’ needs, it said.
Tesco UK and ROI CEO Jason Tarry said, “These are difficult decisions to make, but they are necessary to ensure we remain focused on delivering value for our customers wherever we can, as well as ensuring our store offer reflects what our customers value the most. Our priority is to support those colleagues impacted and help find alternative roles within our business from the vacancies and newly created roles we have available.”
