A quarter of Tesco's 24h stores to reduce opening hours

76 of 400 Tesco 24-hour stores will reduce their opening hours and will be closed between midnight and 6am.

Tesco started to introduce non-stop opening hours in some of its stores back in 1996. Today, 400 stores are open around the clock but it looks like some of these locations are not profitable enough to justify such opening hours. Still, the decision of closing 76 stores (out of 400) between midnight and 6am is presented as a way to improve the customer experience.

In the press release, the company explains that "the move to reduce hours means more Tesco colleague time will be freed up to replenish products on the shelves overnight, which will mean better availability of products and better looking stores when they open their doors to customers each morning."

From 14 March to 11 April, Tesco's list of 24-hour stores will progressively be shortened by almost a quarter of the locations (the list is available here).

Tesco also took the decision to close its two Food-to-Go stores in London. Launched about a year ago, the two stores were dedicated to tourists and workers but eventually proved to be less successful than expected. Both store will be permanently closed on 4 March.

Photo: Tesco Plc.