Founder of low-cost airline easyJet Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou is to launch a pilot discount grocery food store in Croydon.
The new outlet, which is to be called easyFoodstore, is to be positioned at "a niche below some of the current budget operators such as Aldi and Lidl", Haji-Iannou said.
The Cypriot entrepreneur recently registered the domain www.easyfoodstore.com, which links to a blog post outlining the plans. The site also invites potential customers to register an email address to receive updates.
The pilot store is be located on the ground floor of a previously acquired nine-storey office block at Addiscombe Road, Croydon, which is to house several EasyGroup brands.
"The ground floor will provide a site for a low risk pilot store, easyFoodstore. Concentrating on affordable, basic "no-brand-name" packet and tinned foods at bargain prices, easyFoodstore underlines the need for additional reliable day-to-day provision of basic foodstuffs. No other details have yet been decided," Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou said.
"If the pilot site shows there is a need for this offering, easyfoodstore could be rolled out on a wider basis from 2014 onwards using freehold retail sites - buying into the weaker real estate prices in that sector", he added.
The easyJet founder attributed his interest in the venture to the rise in 'widespread use of food banks by the needy' and to his own experience with a Cypriot-based charity called 'Food From The Heart'.
"I hope that a commercially viable venture offering affordable food will help many people in need as well as produce a viable return for the capital employed," Haji-Ioannou said in a statement.
© 2013 - ESM: European Supermarket Magazine by Ellen Lunney
