EasyJet founder opens first food discount store

Entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Ioannou will compete with Aldi and Lidl after opening the very first easyFoodstore in Park Royal, northwest of London.

Very cheap food

The new discount formula’s baseline is “No expensive brands. Just food honestly priced”. At launch, the store sells a limited range of 76 basic products at 25p (about 0.33 Euro).

This pricing will be maintained for the entire month of February, Stelios Haji-Ioannou promises. “I believe there is a niche in the food retail market just below the current level of discount players like Aldi and Lidl”, he said.

easyFoodstore will not sell fresh food, only dry food which comes from the European price fighting label, Euroshopper. That particular brand belongs to purchase alliance AMS, which includes Ahold, ICA, Migros and Morrisons. Back in 2012, Albert Heijn already replaced Euroshopper with AH Basic.

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For the less fortunate

easyFoodstore’s opening caused a bit of turmoil in the British market, where traditional supermarkets have to compete on pricing because of Aldi and Lidl’s strong growth, while they also have to find a solution to the strong online growth and Amazon Fresh‘ arrival.

Maybe the new addition should not be considered an actual competitor for the successful hard discounters in the United Kingdom, as Stelios Haji-Ioannou describes his store as a social initiative, inspired by the food banks. “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”, he wrote on easyFoodstore.com.

The entrepreneur announced three years ago that he would enter the food industry, but the first store (in Croydon) failed as his permits were refused.