Tesco Extra

Tesco Extra is a chain of mainly out-of-town hypermarkets, owned and operated by the United Kingdom's largest retailer, Tesco.

They are huge hypermarkets located at the outer-city (exceptions include Hexham Extra, Kingston upon Hull Extra, Stevenage Extra, Wigan Extra, Grimsby Extra, Galashiels Extra, Slough Extra, Eastbourne Extra, Yeovil Extra and Burnley Extra, which are in the heart of the town centre and Cardiff Western Avenue Extra and Cardiff Pengam Green Extra are located in the inner-city) that stock nearly all of Tesco's product ranges - with large car parks free for about 3 hours. The first Extra opened in 1997. The 100th store opened in the 2004/2005 financial year (specifically opening 29 November 2004, located on the Newport Road in Stafford, Staffordshire). The number of these is now being increased by about 20 a year, mainly by conversions from the second category. The largest Tesco Extra is in Walkden which is largest supermarket in the United Kingdom by floor space with 17,230 square metres (185,500 sq ft) of floorspace. The largest in Scotland is the Port Glasgow store, which opened in July 2007 with a floorspace of 10,200 m² (110,000 sq ft). The largest in Wales is the Tesco Extra in Culverhouse Cross, Cardiff, 9,800 m² (105,000 sq ft) constructed in 2007.

Other large stores include Bar Hill Extra, Cleethorpes Extra, Newcastle upon Tyne Extra, Milton Keynes Kingston Extra and Stockton Extra which are all in the 11,000 m² (120,000 sq ft) range. Newer Tesco Extra stores are usually on two floors, with the ground floor for mainly food and the first floor for clothing, electronics and entertainment. Most Tesco Extra stores have a café too and as of October 2009, all stores have a Tesco Tech Support Team (www.tescotechsupport.co.uk).

Tesco Ireland also operate a small number of Tesco Extra hypermarkets in the Republic of Ireland, with Clarehall Extra on the Malahide Road being the first to open in 2006.

In April 2010 opened the first Tesco Extra in Central Europe in Bratislava - Petrzalka, in Slovakia. This is a pilot project for Tesco in the region. By the end of the year, plans to open more stores outside Tesco Extra in Slovakia and the Czech Republic.