Tesco to sell off acres of land beside Willenhall store
Tesco is putting up for sale more than two acres of development land next to its superstore in Willenhall as part of a move expected to raise millions of pounds.
The land next to the Keyway Retail Park is one of six Tesco sites around the country that the stores giant is aiming to sell.
Another is the former Royal Hospital site in Wolverhampton, which had been lined up for a £65 million superstore redevelopment until the crisis-hit stores group pulled the plug on a string of future developments earlier this year.
The grocer, struggling with falling profits and a repercussions of a £263 million accounting scandal, has appointed property agency Savills to handle the sale of the sites, which also includes the Monaco House Complex in Birmingham and sites in Leeds city centre, Burton-on-Trent and Doncaster.
New chief executive Dave Lewis has slashed Tesco's plans for new stores. The company will open just 170,000 sq ft of shop space this year, less than a fifth of the area budget rival Aldi aims to expand into as part of its own growth plans.
Tesco sees selling off 'non-core land' like the Wolverhampton site as a way of raising much-needed funds at the same time as it has pulled 49 development plans and announced the closure of 43 stores nationwide.
