Tesco’s Kingsteignton superstore on Newton Road has just celebrated its 40th birthday, cutting an enormous Tesco-themed cake and celebrating in the sun, just outside the store.

Store manager, James Sanders, reflected: ‘It’s a great moment for the team. I’ve worked in a few stores and what always strikes me is the strong companionship between the staff. Here, it’s no different, we all feel like a family, and some of the ladies here have been at the store since the beginning.

‘Our store is proud to have served the community from this site for 40 years. I would like to thank all our loyal customers and colleagues for their support’

Longtime worker, Jean Pope, said: ‘We’re like a family here, we all work in our own departments which makes the store feel smaller and like a community. You really get to know each other and really play a part in each others’ lives.’

Time and time again, the staff described their team as something similar to a family. Martin Doyle moved down from the North several years ago to live in Shaldon. ‘It’s very friendly down here, and the team’s very close-knit, so there are no complaints from me!’

Angie Britain has been working with Tesco since 1976 and remembers when the store was still near the centre of Newton Abbot. She saw the building of the store and the subsequent extensions: ‘Over time the store’s expanded, I remember when they extended the front and all the birds around the area were so confused they flew into the glass!’

Over the past 40 years, Tesco has become increasingly integrated into the local community. Jean said: ‘It’s amazing how much you get to know the community, you’ll be out doing something completely different in town and someone will come up to you and say I know you, you’ll wonder why and then you’ll realise that it’s because you serve them in Tesco every week.’

Theresa Deacon, working at Tesco since 1978 said the same: ’One customer said to me, if you go, I go.’

Janette Parker’s role at the store is to take the store’s central position in the community and use it to create real change in the area. In the past, the team has raised money for a variety of different causes, from Rowcroft Hospice to homelessness charities to beach cleaning and litter picking.

Recently, Janette’s focus has been working to raise supplies for food banks in the wake of the cost of living crisis. Tesco does two national collections a year, in which the last collection raised 1.3 tonnes of food. Jannette was shocked and humbled by the response from the community: ‘Just a day or two into the collection we had far more than we expected, it was great to see that almost everyone was willing to donate a can of food or something.’

Some of the ladies also get together outside of the job, conducting their own charitable work, raising thousands of pounds and going away for theatre excursions and weekends away. The store also runs a community support scheme. Every time a customer shops they receive a token which gives them the opportunity to choose a cause or project to support.

Past projects include a new roof and exterior to the Teigngrace Village Hall, improving the facilities for the Scouts HQ and £1,000 for new school books. The three projects currently underway are supporting Bale’s Farm Outdoor Learning, the Dawlish Community Larder and the South Devon Asperger Group.

The Covid-19 pandemic was one of the most challenging periods in the store’s history. James said: ‘Covid was manic, we’re only just getting back to normal.

‘People are finally coming back to the store and spending some time shopping and talking to each other which is great to see.’

As one of the few places that remained open throughout the pandemic, many of the staff understood their roles as key workers, not just in the respect of feeding the nation, but also as one of the only points of social interaction for those living alone. ‘During Covid, our staff were so important for the community, for some living alone, we were the only people that they saw all week.’

Looking forward, the store has high hopes for the future, although some of the original staff admitted they were looking forward to a well-earned retirement.