Tesco has been in Hungary since 1995, and is the country’s market leader. In 2012 it has 212 stores in Hungary with 115 hypermarkets Tesco’s operations in Hungary are geared towards large format stores with a large number of hypermarkets. Its total sales area was around 5 m sq ft by August 2007 and average store size in 2012 was 34439 sq ft (nearly 3 times that of the UK). Read an article from Food and Drink Europe on Tesco’s expansion in Hungary.
Tesco has expressed concern at what it sees as a “tough economic and retail environment” in Hungary.
A number of environmental groups have started campaigning against the environmental impacts of the store openings of Tesco in Hungary. In 2010 there were a series of industrial disputes amongst Tesco employees in Hungary over equal pay, minimum wage, overtime, and union rights.