Tesco promises doubted

Tesco's PR department, usually accustomed to glowing coverage, received a shot across the bow recently. A California study was critical of Tesco's follow-through on its pledge to locate stores in "food deserts." Here is one piece called Tesco Expansion takes flak. Another, from the Timesonline: Tesco's Fresh & Easy stores hit image problem before opening:

Despite Tesco’s high-profile pledges to move into “food deserts” from which other grocery retailers have moved, researchers in the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute (UEPI) in Los Angeles’ Occidental College, revealed that fewer than ten of the 98 stores already signed by Tesco in the US are in high-poverty areas.
The report also criticises Tesco for refusing to hold discussions with local unions, only offering store workers part-time positions and shying away from the kind of local sourcing initiatives that it operates in parts of the UK, and points out the criticism that Tesco has faced over conditions of workers in its supply chain from charitable groups such as War on Want and ActionAid.

Later....

The report comes as Tesco steps up its public relations machine before opening its first American store in November. The retailer plans to open hundreds of small grocery stores in Southern California and the Southwest of America over the next few years.
Tesco has carefully fostered its green credentials in America, topping its Disneyland-sized distribution centre with solar panels and using a polar bear as a corporate symbol or mascot to remind people of its concern about global warming.
Ms Shaffer said that Tesco clearly had huge ambitions in America and had told researchers it wanted neigbourhood stores every one or two miles. The report claims that Tesco has ambitions to surpass Wal-Mart to become the biggest grocery store in America and that in future it is likely to open hypermarkets and other formats as it has done elsewhere.
“Tesco is going to make a big impact on the industry and and we hope that if they take a positive route it will push others in that direction,” Ms Shaffer said.