Temporary Tesco open at Burnt Tree Island

A temporary supermarket opened today to bridge the gap while a 24-hour Tesco is demolished to make way for a replacement megastore in the Black Country.

The original Tesco store at Burnt Tree Island, Dudley, served its final customers at 4pm yesterday signalling the start of a four-day task for staff to strip the building before demolition can start.

Around 300 of the store's 420 employees are busy moving up to 50,000 items from the Dudley store to other Tesco supermarkets across the country.

The remaining 120 workers today opened up a temporary store which will trade on the Town Gate Retail Park, Birmingham Road, while the rebuild work takes place.

The replacement Tesco, which will be three times larger than the old store and one of the biggest in the region, is scheduled for completion in the Autumn.

But before work on the new building can begin, the old store has to be stripped of stock and fittings.

Items such as bread and meat were reduced yesterday with many of the shelves left bare by closing time.

Bosses estimate around 10,000 customers visited the store compared to 8,000 on a normal Sunday trading.

A fleet of 24 vans will be removing goods from the store over the next two days.

Thousands of tins of soup and beans, 30,000 health and hair products and 1,200 tins of chocolates will be among the goods loaded into crates by staff.

The store will also transfer 12,000 cans of beer, around 500 crates in all.

The existing petrol station is closing during the rebuild and unused fuel, an estimated 60,000 litres of petrol will also be removed and taken to other stores.

And 40 litres of cooking fat used in the supermarket's cafe will also be taken away to be disposed off.

Staff will work in shifts over the next week to ensure everything is removed. The first demolition work is expected on Friday.

Some are being transferred to other stores in the Midlands — and will be taken to work each day during the rebuild by minibuses. It is costing the firm £45,000 to rent the vehicles.

Carer Andrew Edwards aged 49, of Brook Street, Dudley, had a surprise when he was the first customer through the door.Staff headed by manager Wayne Bayliss presented him with a bottle of whisky which he said he would be keeping for a special occasion.