Bosses say while only food is on offer at the moment there could be clothes or bath products in the future

25p shop is part of a promotional month, but after that bosses say they could rise to around 50p

sugar, tea, sardines, tomato ketchup, peach slices and Jaffa Cakes are on offer at the London shop


We've flocked to the pound shop and flirted with the 99p store – now get ready for 25p grocer easyFoodstore.

A mega-discount shop has been launched by easyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou, who aims to take on the budget supermarkets Aldi and Lidl.

But with shelves filled with dried pasta, rice and tins of sardines and ready-made curry, is it really ready to take on the German chains, which have become a resounding hit with the middle-classes since their introduction to the UK 20 years ago.

The Easy shops offers a range of basic items at 'rock-bottom prices', with an introductory promotion this month of just 25p for everything - including sugar, tea, sardines, tomato ketchup, peach slices and Jaffa Cakes. A weekly shop for a family of four costs just £15.75 inside, and a three course dinner, complete with a pasta as a main course and a houmous starter comes in at just £2.75.

The goods are unbranded and the sales pitch is 'No expensive brands, just food honestly priced'. The 25p shop is part of a promotional month, but after that bosses say items could rise to around 50p.'

Shopper Janine Towns, 61, does her grocery shop at the new EasyFoodstore shop on Park Royal West, north London, selling 76 basic foodstuffs for 25p each as a trial store for the whole of February

Shop assistant Paolo Franchi at the new EasyFoodstore shop. Sir Stelios unveiled his easyFoodstore plans in 2014 and has been searching for suitable locations for the shops ever since

This receipt for £12 shows just how far one customer's money went in the new easyFoodstore as they took advantage of the promotion

Ann James, 55, prowls the aisles for bargains at the store - the brainchild of easyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou, who aims to take on the budget German supermarkets Aldi and Lidl

His shops will offer a limited range of basic items at 'rock-bottom prices', with an introductory promotion this month of just 25p

But with shelves filled with dried pasta, rice and tins of sardines and ready-made curry, is it really ready to take on German chains Aldi and Lidl

The goods are unbranded and the sales pitch is 'No expensive brands, just food honestly priced'. The 25p shop is part of a promotional month, but after that bosses say they could rise to around 50p

A weekly shop for a family of four costs just £15.75 at the new easyFoodstore pilot store where every single item is priced at just 25p

THE BATTLE OF THE BUDGET BRANDS: EASYFOODSTORE BEATS ALDI AND LIDL IN CUT-PRICE WARS Aldi Ocean Rise Tuna Flakes in Brine - 49p Aldi vegetable oil - 89p Aldi tinned sardines - 39p Aldi tinned curry - 99p

Lidl's Nixe Tinned Tuna Chunks in Brine - 45p Lidl vegetable oil - 62p Lidl tinned sardines - 45p Lidl tinned curry - 99p easyFoodstore tuna flakes 25p easyFoodstore vegetable oil 25p easyFoodstore sardines 25p easyFoodstore tinned curry 25p


Flour, ravioli, noodle snacks, peas and multipacks of crisps are all marked with the same minute price. The promotion is only set to last for a month and shoppers are rushing to stock up their cupboards

Jars of pasta sauce, ketchup and brown sauce also proved to be a bargain at the shop which proved to be a hit on its first day

WEEKLY SHOP FOR £15.75: FEED FAMILY OF FOUR WITH 63 ITEMS 80 tea bags X 1 Coffee X 1 Olive oil X 1 Lemonade X 2 Orangeade X 2 Long grain rice X 4 Chilli con carne X 2 Chicken and vegetable curry X 2 Fusilli pasta X 1 Original pasta sauce X 1 Mushroom pasta sauce X 1 Spaghetti X 1 Penne x 1 Ten individual cereal packs x 1 Mushroom pasta sauce X 1 Ravioli X 2 Pack of four petit pains X 4 Tin of sardines X 4 Tin of Chickpeas X 2 Noodle snack spicy curry flavour (pot noodle) X 8 Cream of chicken soup X 2 Cream of tomato soup X 2 Six large white pitta X 1 Baby carrots X 4 Peas X 3 Pineapple pieces X 4 Peach slices X 2 Fruit pastilles X 1 Chocolate cookies X 1 Seven bags of crisps (multipack) X 1 Advertisement

Flour, ravioli, noodle snacks, peas and multipacks of crisps are all marked with the same price. The promotion is only set to last for a month and shoppers are rushing to stock up their cupboards.

Dental nurse Alice Bangura, 31, from Bromley came to the shop after hearing about it from a friend.

The mother-of-two said: 'A friend sent me a link online. Shopping for two kids can be really expensive. Here it is really good, really affordable.

'The chopped tomatoes I've got here will be really handy. Every day the prices seem to be going up in supermarkets. Something like this is really good.'

Ann James, 55, a personal assistant, was amazed when the lady at the till told her her bill.

The local resident from Harlesden said: 'I've just done my shopping for £7. I've got two big bags of shopping for £7. I live with my mother and brother and the pasta should last quite a long time.

'I think there should be more places like this. Prices have definitely gone up.'

However, Ms James admitted the shop would have to have a greater variety of stock to tempt her further away.

Ms James said: 'Obviously for me, it's local. It costs me nothing to get here so it's great. Maybe if it was quite far away there would have to be a little more variety in what you could buy.'

Richard Shackleton, Communications Director at easyGroup, explained an EasyFood store had not come out of the blue.

He said: 'Stelios's charitable foundation runs soup kitchens in Greece and Cyprus.

'With food banks you usually have to prove you are on benefits. But once you come off benefits, you won't be able to use food banks but you will still have to feed yourself.

'We've also seen Aldi and Lidl go up in popularity so that is all part of it.'

While the 25p shop is part of a promotional month, Mr Shackleton says they could rise to around 50p .

Mr Shackleton said: 'Once the month is over, we will need to come down to find a price. We know there are discount shops and £1 shops, maybe this could be the new 50p shop.'

Mr Shackleton said there are hopes of expanding easyFoodstore both in outlets and what it could sell.

He said: 'They will probably always be in the M25, we're never going to open up a shop in Knightsbridge. At the moment we're supplying food but possibly, there could be clothes or bath products in the future. If it grows.'

Mr Shackleton insists people can do a full shop there, but it wasn't about promoting a healthy lifestyle.

He said: 'The thing is about perishable foods is we'd have to turn them over and make sure they are sold.

'We had frozen foods in that freezer and the reason they are not there is because they sold out in about a day.

'The purpose isn't to promote a healthy diet. If you look, we have got a lot of rice, pasta, carbohydrates. Those are foods that keep you alive.

'People have come here and stocked up fully from the shop.'

While Mr Shackleton admits the margins are small he insists it is not solely a charitable venture.

He said: 'We're aiming to make money, but obviously with wafer thin margins such as we have, we are going to have to sell an awful lot of spaghetti hoops.'

Sir Stelios said the idea was inspired after he saw the widespread use of food banks, adding: 'This is another way the Easy brand can serve the less well-off'

Happy shopper Ann James leaves with her bargains. An easyFoodstore spokesman said the stores would be built in deprived parts of south-east London 'which fit our demographic'

The front of the 'concept store'. The sector has come under increasing pressure from changing shopping habits as people move from making one large trip a week to 'little and often' at a range of chains

COULD YOU HOST A DINNER PARTY WITH ITEMS INSIDE? At 25p per item, there is no doubt that when it comes to the basics, the easyFoodstore is a snippet of the cost of most supermarkets. But could you really cater for your friends with the budget items on the shelves? From the groceries available it would possible to create a simple and filling meal for four for just £2.75. Starter - Houmous and Pitta 2 x chickpeas, 1 x olive oil, 1 x 6 large pitta Main course - Pasta 1X Penne, 1X Original pasta sauce Pudding 2x pineapple pieces, 2 X fruit slices, 1X bar of chocolate Advertisement

Sir Stelios unveiled his easyFoodstore plans in 2014 and has been searching for suitable locations for the shops ever since.

The first one has now opened in Park Royal, north-west London, next to his easyBus depot.

The tycoon said the idea was inspired after he saw the widespread use of food banks, adding: '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.'

He believes there is a gap in the market for cheap food, even below the prices charged by Aldi and Lidl.

His food stores are also likely to hit the 'big four' supermarkets: Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons.

The sector has come under increasing pressure from changing shopping habits as people move from making one large trip a week to 'little and often' at a range of chains.

The big four have been losing market share as they struggle to compete, and the launch of Amazon in the grocery sector has also cast a shadow over the industry.

An easyFoodstore spokesman said the stores would be built in deprived parts of south-east London 'which fit our demographic', with shoppers who 'will either be on benefits or in low-paid or zero-hour jobs'.

Last month, Sir Stelios launched easyCoffee with an outlet in Earl's Court offering coffee for £1.

He signed an agreement with the operator People's Coffee, which hopes to open a chain of 30 easyCoffee outlets within three years.

His growing empire of Easy-branded companies includes easyBus, easyCar and easyGym.

Although easyHotels was a success, not all his ventures have taken off, with easyInternetcafe and easyCinema failing to make an impact.

Sir Stelios shook up the airline industry more than 20 years ago when he launched easyJet from Luton in November 1995.

He is fond of gimmicks to promote his products, and when easyJet launched he offered tickets for the price of a pair of Levi's jeans, which then cost £29.99.

He later sold a large chunk of his stake in easyJet but he and his family still own 35 per cent.