The British Retailer TESCO doesn’t seem to have much time to wait and waste in hopes of an economic turnaround. The retail store chain has, instead, decided to take it on as it launched itself into an expansion and diversification overdrive that flew in the face of conventional wisdom and sense of reality.

TESCO had announced earlier that it had no plans to expand further for the financial year. However, the retail store chain is busy buying sites for future expansions, almost 50 of them, in the United States. TESCO has opened 125 stores, those of the bargain selling format where it has been promoting economical food stuff in private labels. Its US brand, Fresh and Easy, has been using the recent slump in real estate to buy up property that it could build on as recession makes way for growth.

TESCO has been investing in its financial services arm for some time now, banking on its association with the Royal Bank of Scotland that started in the hay days of economy. TESCO had set up shop in the credit cards and personal loans business when RBS came under tremendous pressure to offload businesses that were not at the core of its operations. TESCO seized upon this opportunity to buy the remaining stakes from RBS.

Not content with being just another financial services firm, TESCO got licenses to start banks – yes, full fledged banks that could be a financial super market for its customers. The Super Market chain plans to open 30 bank branches across its stores. While existing banks are being slammed for their hands-off approaches to credit that led to the financial meltdown, TESCO sees good value in entering the banking playing field where it hopes to transfer its trust and brand value to the new units. And it has done so in a fair deal of success as it holds deposits worth $5 billion and has almost 6 million accounts.

TESCO sees advantages in entering the industry at its weakest, as it could take in customers that are unsatisfied with existing brands in banking. TESCO could also enjoy roping in seasoned executives who, in the prime days of banking, would not have fancied working with a super market chain. TESCO now plans to enter the mortgage lending industry. The super market chain sees synergy in using its databases that could throw light on its customers’ consumption patterns and would help the banking division pitch its products appropriately. TESCO plans to create 500 jobs in Glasgow, Scotland, for its banking services division.

With most of the retail chains are still wondering what hit them, TESCO has been going about its business as usual, strengthening its customer bases and creating jobs in a moribund economy.