London, Oct. 25 - U.K. retailer Tesco PLC said Thursday that its stores around the Los Angeles area, which are set to open next month, haven't been affected by California's wildfires.
"It's very much business as usual," a company spokesman told Dow Jones Newswires. He said he last spoke to Tesco's U.S. team Wednesday night.
Tesco is set to open four stores in Los Angeles on Nov. 8 as part of its long awaited move to the U.S. West Coast. The retailer will have 50 stores up and running by the end of February across the Los Angeles, Phoenix, Los Vegas and San Diego markets, he said.
Tesco will roll out its convenience-format stores under the name of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market.
The group has earmarked up to GBP250 million a year from existing funds for the new division, which includes buying property for the store sites.
The U.S. business is expected to break even at the end of its second year of trading, Tesco Chief Executive Terry Leahy said earlier this month.
The fires, which began Sunday and wreaked havoc in seven southern California counties, have so far destroyed 1,500 homes, charred nearly 500,000 acres and temporarily displaced more than a half-million residents, according to The Wall Street Journal newspaper.