e went shopping in London's supermarket for poor people where everything costs just 25p — this is what it was like
Business Insider/Barbara Tasch
Since opening earlier this month, the easyFoodstore has generated a lot of buzz. It is specifically targeted at poor people, a company spokesperson told The Guardian.
A few days after opening its doors, the store that sells everything for 25p had to temporarily close in order to re-stock as it had completely sold out of products.
Part of easyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou's range of "easy" ventures, the store sells a variety of goods (but no fresh meat, fish, fruit, or vegetables) for 25p each until the end of February. Afterwards prices are set to rise to around 50p per item.
Haji-Ioannou, who has a net worth of $1.76 billion (£1.1 billion) said he had the idea for the store after seeing the increasing number of people using food banks in London.
“I have a feeling that there is a gap in the food retail market – a niche below some of the current budget operators such as Aldi and Lidl,” Haji-Ioannou told the Guardian.
“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.”
Last year, the Trussell Trust, which manages the food bank network, said that a record number of people in the UK were now using food banks and reported and that three days emergency food was handed out over one million times over the 2014-2015 financial year. This number has been consistently rising over the last 10 years, partly explaining the huge success of a 25 p food store.
Business Insider went to the easyFoodstore in north west London to see what it's like to shop there.
Business Insider went to the easyFoodstore in north west London to see what it's like to shop there.
We got to the store at about 4:45 pm on a Tuesday and there was a group of about 10 people queuing outside.
“EasyFoodstore caters for low-paid, part-time workers, benefits claimants and pensioners. It doesn’t open on Saturday and Sunday as most of those people have time during the week to do their shopping,” the company told The Guardian.
We had to wait about 15 minutes before being let in by a "bouncer" who controls entry into the store. According to the employees, there is a constant queue outside.
The inside of the store has zero frills. The goods, still in cardboard crates or boxes, are displayed on bright blue and orange shelves and decorated only by big "25p" signs.
The cashier told us that they processed about 350 transactions every single day since the store opened. From next week on the store will be open from 11 am to 5 pm Monday to Friday instead of 9 am to 6 pm.
Although the store does not sell any fresh produce, meat, or fish — canned vegetables, baked beans, cans of tuna are available.
From next week on, customers won't be able to buy unlimited amounts though. A new rule will prevent anyone from buying more than 10 units of the same item per day.
At the end of the month, the store will pick 40 of its best-selling products and only keep those in stock (compared to about 70 products now).
This is a view from one end of the store. The cashier told us that they normally tell people to stop queueing at 5:30 pm, or it "never ends." The only two employees of the store, a cashier and a "bouncer", claimed they had to work a 33-hour shift the first week because of how much success the store had.
By the time we got there, there was not much choice left as the store was closing within the hour. From next week on, the store is going to close at 5 pm instead of 6 pm to give staff more time to clean and re-stock the store.
Jaffa cakes x2, tea bags, popcorn, brown sauce, mixed vegetables, chopped tomatoes, tuna, baked beans, Bombay mix, and ketchup — we got all this this for a total of £3 (plus 10p for plastic bags).
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