27 photos tell rags-to-riches story of supermarket giant Tesco, founded with WW1 survivor's demob money

But how many shoppers know the rags-to-riches story of the man who founded Tesco using the demob money he got after serving during the First World War?

These nostalgic photos tell Jack Cohen’s tale and that of the retail giant he founded, from its market stall origins to the first self-service shops, Green Shield stamps, ‘Every Little Helps’, and the Clubcard.

Cohen was born in London’s East End and, after leaving school aged 14, began his working life as an apprentice tailor to his father, a Polish immigrant called Avroam. His mother, Sime, tragically died when he was just a teenager.

Cohen volunteered in 1917 to join the Royal Flying Corps, using his skills as a tailor to make canvases for balloons and other aircraft. He was among the survivors when the ship he was on hit a mine and sank, killing more than 200 people.

Upon his return from the war, he set up a market stall in Hackney in 1919, using his demob money to buy the surplus groceries he sold. On his first day of trading, he made an impressive £1 profit on sales of £4.

The name Tesco was born in 1924, when Cohen combined the initials of his tea supplier TE Stockwell with the first two letters of his own surname.

The first Tesco store opened in Edgware, north London, in 1929, selling dry goods, including the firm’s first branded product, Tesco Tea.

By 1939, his empire had expanded to more than 100 stores, and in 1947, Tesco was floated on the stock exchange, with shares priced 25p.

Tesco’s first self-service store opened in Hertfordshire in 1948, the first supermarket followed in 1958, and the first ‘superstore’, a 40,000sqft site in Crawley, West Sussex, opened in 1968.

Having initially focused on groceries, Tesco expanded in the 60s to offer clothes and household goods, and in 1973, opened the first petrol stations at its biggest stores.

In 1963, the first loyalty scheme was introduced. Customers were given stamps at the checkout, which they could exchange for a huge variety of goods from the Green Shield catalogue.

Cohen’s business motto was ‘pile it high and sell it cheap’, while he motivated his sales force by telling them ‘You Can't Do Business Sitting On Your Arse’.

He sadly died in 1979, a decade after stepping down as chairman of Tesco, but the firm continued to grow.

The first Tesco Metro store opened in 1992, and the Tesco Value range was introduced the following year, along with the famous ‘Every Little Helps’ strapline. The Tesco Clubcard was launched in 1995, and the Tesco Finest range in 1998.

In recent years, Tesco has faced increased competition from new rivals Aldi and Lidl.

It responded by launching its own discount stores in 2018 - called Jack’s, after the firm’s founder - only to close them just four years later.

Despite its challenges, Tesco remains the UK’s biggest grocery retailer, boasting a market share of 29.4% at the end of 2025.

These photos show how Tesco stores have changed over the years, featuring cigarette price wars, Green Shield stamps, the move to ‘late-night’ shopping, the introduction of papooses for babies with shoppers, and the impact of bread and sugar shortages.

They also show how Cohen, who was knighted in 1969, remained a man of the people even after his huge success.

He is seen meeting customers on the shop floor, pouring wine and celebrating Christmas with them.

Cohen is also pictured with his beloved wife Sarah ‘Cissie’ Fox, with whom he had two children, and he is shown revisiting his roots by returning to the spot where he opened his first market stall.

Do these photos bring back any memories for you of how we used to shop, including Green Shield stamps and pre-decimal money?

For more shopping nostalgia, you might like our look back at things you could get for less than a tenner in the 70s that would cost a lot more today.