King Kullen: why the first US supermarket was at the forefront of global distribution

Italian, French and British retailers have drawn inspiration and lessons from their American counterparts. And the chain that opened its first supermarket 96 years ago is still family-owned: in June, King Kullen appointed its first female president, Tracey Cullen, the founder’s great-granddaughter

Quick Take — Tesco is considering selling its European operations

Drafted on 8 July, updated on 14 July 2026.

According to the Financial Times, the supermarket chain is exploring options with its banks for its operations in Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, where it employs over 22,000 people. The sale of the business would put an end to Tesco’s ambitions outside the UK and Ireland, including its failed attempt to build a new supermarket chain from scratch in the United States.

I visited a Tesco in Budapest in 2008 and didn’t come away with a very good impression.

Tesco’s latest figures can be found here: turnover from the Central European division is marginal, accounting for 6.2 per cent of the total.

The EBIT figures (operating profit: the blue line shows the trend in Central Europe’s EBIT) below are taken from a subsequent Financial Times article which reminds us all that purchasing in the retail sector takes place at a local, country-specific level.

This has been one of the major obstacles to the internationalisation of Carrefour, Walmart, Auchan and Rewe, for example: the approach is international, but the products are, for the most part, local.

Quick Take — From Uniqlo to Temu: Japanese buyers make a generational change

Chinese platforms have broken through barriers once considered impenetrable Temu and Shein because they offer products at prices as much as 90% lower than Japanese retailers.

Japan has long been known as a retail graveyard, where even global giants like Tesco, Walmart and Carrefour have failed.

The rise of Chinese platforms signals a fundamental shift in one of the world’s most closed consumer markets. Historically, the retail and e-commerce sector in Japan has been defined by its insularity.

Local groups such as Aeon, Uniqlo and Rakuten have long dominated, thanks to intricate supply chains, loyal customer bases and favourable regulatory environments. Cultural factors add another layer of difficulty for foreign players, from the long-standing preference for domestically manufactured products to geopolitical tensions, particularly among the older generation.

Yet a surprising reversal of this trend has been taking place in recent years. Chinese companies, including PDD Holdings’ Temu and Shein, have broken through barriers once considered impenetrable, offering products at prices as much as 90% lower to local retailers.

Chinese-ownedTikTok is preparing to enter the Japanese online shopping market in the coming months, signalling a further deepening of the Chinese retail push in the country…

Quick Take — Tesco will give away expired food to customers

This is a trial that will be carried out in selected Tesco Expresses. Source

This is very difficult to do in Italy: in Esselunga we had a 50% discount on fish and many employees hid the packets in the back of the supermarket in the morning and then took it to the till in the evening.

At Dominick‘s, in dairy products, for example, there was a discount when the yoghurt expired but there was a risk, in my opinion, of poisoning the customers.