EasyJet owner launches ultra-low budget grocery in U.K.
LONDON - The founder of budget airline EasyJet has stepped into Britain's grocery aisle.
Stelios Haji-Ioannou has opened a discount grocery in northwest London, called EasyFood, offering canned sardines, soups and pasta for a mere 25 pence (36 cents) -- for a limited time only. Prices will go up on the "limited and basic" range after a month.
No fresh produce will be offered at the store, whose motto is "No expensive brands. Just food honestly priced."
Haji-Ioannou described the store as an effort to fill a gap in the market -- serving the "unwaged and low waged." The store will operate in the space a niche below Aldi and Lidl, the European budget supermarket operators.
Haji-Ioannou says he drew on his experience in distributing food for free in Greece and Cyprus.