Tesco is to create a new superstore in the East End of Glasgow with hundreds of jobs for the area.

The company is converting the former Big W Woolworths store at the Forge Retail Park which has lain empty for three years.

The store will create 350 jobs and will have an in-store cafe, optician, clothing, dry cleaners, photo and mobile phone shops and Tesco Direct catalogue area.

It will compete directly with the long-established Asda supermarket a few hundred yards away at the Forge shopping centre.

Speculation has been mounting about the potential new owners of the former Big W store, which closed in 2008 after the collapse of the Woolworths brand.

Sainsburys and Morrisons are understood to have noted an interest in the building next to the B&Q superstore.

Contractors are already on site and the new 60,000 sq ft Tesco is expected to be open by Christmas.

The new store is expected to attract a deluge of job applications from the Parkhead community, which was ranked one of Scotland's most deprived areas.

Tesco had 90 job applications for just 16 jobs at a new store in Maryhill which opened last year.

A Tesco spokesman said the supermarket would incorporate as many environmentally friendly features as possible including a heat-saving lobby and energy efficient bakery and refrigeration.

Touch-screen energy monitors will let the company move closer to its goal of being carbon neutral by 2050.

Gloria Coats, the corporate affairs manager for Tesco, commented: "As well as a great new store for local people and a jobs boost locally, our plans will bring back to life a unit which has lain vacant for many years.

"Our new store will bring the Tesco values of great customer service, value and choice and represents a substantial financial investment in the Forge.

"Our contractors are beginning works and hopefully we will be open before Christmas."

Tesco has also unveiled plans to create a new store at the Glasgow Harbour development with 500 jobs.

The company and the Glasgow Harbour developers are hoping to regenerate two sites. A planning application for a supermarket, housing development and office space has been submitted to Glasgow City Council.

Feedback from a consultation into the plans showed 72% felt a store at Glasgow Harbour would encourage them to shop locally.

High Street legend Woolworths went into administration in December 2008 with the loss of tens of thousands of jobs.

A year later the brand was resurrected as an online store by the Barclay brothers, owners of the Daily Telegraph, who specialise in buying up home-delivery retail groups.