EasyFoodstore: Discount shop opens in Park Royal with groceries for 25p each

EasyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou has opened the doors of his latest venture – a discount food store selling staple goods for 25p each.

EasyFoodstore began trading on Park Royal West, just off the North Circular, on Monday, offering shoppers groceries ranging from pasta to beans to cleaning products. Fresh meat, fruit and vegetables are not yet available.

The 25p price tag is part of an introductory promotion set to last all of February. It would in theory allow customers to buy one of each of the store's 76 products for less than £20.

The outlet, which sits next to a depot for Haji-Ioannou’s easyBus.com, is billed as the desintation for a “limited and basic range of items at rock-bottom prices”. Its slogan is “No expensive brands. Just food honestly priced”.

It aims to challenge the likes of Aldi and Lidl, which have been encroaching on traditional supermarkets’ turf with their low cost, high quality proposition, by undercutting their prices.

Haji-Ioannou said: “This is another way the easy brand can serve the less well-off. Given my experience in distributing food for free in Greece and Cyprus, this is a more commercial attempt to sell basic food for 25p per item to those less well-off in the Park Royal area.”

The entrepreneur, who is of Greek-Cypriot origin, has said he got the idea after learning about the growing use of food banks in the UK.

The Park Royal store is being billed as a pilot, but the businessman has expressed hopes to roll it out further if it proves successful.

It is easyGroup's second attempt at the experiment. An earlier trial planned for Croydon failed to materialise.

Trade at Park Royal, which houses industrial shelving and no frills decor, has already been brisk, according to visitors.

EasyFoodstore is part of Haji-Ioannou’s investment vehicle easyGroup, along with easyMobile.com, easyHotel.com and easyGym.com.

The Haji-Ioannou family remains 33.73% shareholders in easyJet, according to Thomson Reuters data.