The new easyFoodstore opened its doors yesterday and within hours was besieged by hundreds of savvy shoppers eager to take advantage of its mega-discount offerings.
The shop – from the man behind the easyJet empire – offers a range of basic items at ‘rock-bottom prices’, with an introductory promotion this month of just 25p for everything.
Customers yesterday snapped up armfuls of Jaffa Cakes, instant coffee, tinned tuna and chilli con carne, elbowing one another and jostling for the last remaining packets of 25p pitta breads, chips and margherita pizzas. Frozen stock sold out and had to be replenished within two hours of opening.
But dozens of bargain hunters who queued outside the north-London store today in the hope of bagging similar deals are said to have been left disappointed – and headed home empty handed.
Rock bottom prices: Shelves at the easyFoodstore, where all items are on sale for 25p, were cleared by bargain hunters lured by the promise of a cheap weekly shop. Pictured, the north-London store today
Weekly shop: A mother balances pots of food on top of her buggy as she walks past empty shop shelves
Popular: Queues formed outside the warehouse-like space today but many are said to have left empty-handed
Bagging a bargain: One couple managed to fill a large blue IKEA bag with their food haul
One customer who trekked across the city said that when she arrived the shelves were empty and that a member of staff told her the shop was closing until the stock could be replenished.
She said there was a stream of would-be customers who had made the journey to find that the shelves were 90 per cent bare, with only ‘a few crates of tinned peas, carrots and tomato soup left’.
At around 4pm a member of staff said that he was going to have to close, prompting angry customers to ‘shout things like ‘tell Stelios to get his act together!”,’ she said.