The first shop is located in Park Royal West, London, having opened to the public last week. All sold under the slogan: “No expensive brands”. But the 25p are just an introductory price for February. “Just food honestly priced”.
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Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, the entrepreneur best known as the founder of hugely successful budget airline EasyJet, has launched the latest brand in his empire.
A company spokesman said the store will offer a “limited and basic range of items at rock-bottom prices” as it looks to cash in on the success of German discount chains Aldi and Lidl.
Haji-Ioannou has distributed food to the poor in Greece and Cyprus through a charitable organization.
The store will sell a range of grocery items including pasta, biscuits and beans, but the list of initial products does not include fresh meat, fruit or vegetables.
It’s advertised as a cheaper option to Aldi and Lidl, the most popular discount chains in the United Kingdom, and it’s meant to serve the poorest neighborhoods in the UK. The store will operate in the space a niche below Aldi and Lidl, the European budget supermarket operators.
“I hope that a commercially viable venture offering affordable food will help many people in need as well as producing a viable return for the capital employed”, Haji-Ioannou said.
The Haji-Ioannou family remains 33.73% shareholders in easyJet, according to Thomson Reuters data.
The brand has expanded to easyCar, easyHotel, easyGym and easyProperty.
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But some of his brands have not fared so well – easyCinema, which offered tickets for as little as 20p, closed in 2006 and easyInternetcafe reportedly lost more than £100m.
