Tesco stocks shelves for Easter as New Year arrives

With New Year barely arriving, Tesco has caused quite a stir by putting out several items for the Easter holiday.

With the religious holiday still four months away, customers and church leaders have called the move “odd” and “absurd”. Tesco stores in both Portwood and Burnage, however, have begun stocking chocolate eggs and bunnies, which the supermarket giant says is at the request of its customers.

Several religious figures have responded in anger and customers have been quoted as calling the move “greedy” and “ridiculous”. Yet, Tesco maintains that it is happy to give customers what they want, and said that several shoppers had asked that some of the Easter items appear on the shelves earlier.

Julia Dodgson, who shops at one of the Tescos, said that it showed greed on Tesco’s part. She also warned that the supermarket giant would better off sticking to one holiday at a time.

The move is most likely compounded by that fact that Easter is arriving quite late this year. With a date of 24 April, the holiday is as late as it has ever been making the early arrival of Easter items seem even more exacerbated.

Father John Flynn, of the Salford Catholic diocese, said that Tesco’s decision was definitely “odd” and he called the move “misplaced”.