EasyFoodstore shoppers queue for over an hour after supermarket reopens

Surprised managers consider cutting number of 25p items per shopper as pundits claim cornershops and takeaways are stocking up on cheap prices

The easyFoodstore in north-west London. Photograph: Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA

Sarah Butler

Punters were queuing for as long as an hour to get into EasyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou’s budget food store which re-opened on Friday morning.

The store, which charges 25p each for groceries, was forced to close on Thursday, less than two days after it first opened because it had run out of stock.

About 50 people were queueing when the store opened at 9am on Friday with queues topping 100 throughout the day, despite long waiting times. Security staff have only been allowing 15-20 people at a time to enter.

EasyFoodstore said the company was considering a limit on the number of items each shopper could buy as it had already sold out of pasta by Friday lunchtime.

The store, in Park Royal, north-west London, will be closed over the weekend. The spokesman said the changes might be introduced on Monday.

“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 spokesman said the company had been surprised people were prepared to queue up to buy its range of just 76 grocery items including pasta, biscuits and beans. It does not stock fresh meat or fruit and vegetables.

The store has proved a big draw to shoppers in the booming discount market, where the German chains Aldi and Lidl have forced major supermarkets such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons to close stores and cut prices.

At least one shopper at easyFoodstore travelled from as far as Canterbury to snap up some bargains, while industry commentators suggested local convenience stores and takeaways were probably exploiting the cheap prices to stock up more cheaply than they could at their wholesalers.