easyfood store

EasyFoodstore is considering franchise or property acquisitions for a possible rollout of the brand.

The first trial store in London’s Park Royal has received a recent facelift with new signage that has been described as “more permanent”.

EasyGroup director of communications Richard Shackleton said the updated look was to make the store “stand out a bit more” as it had become something of a landmark in that part of London.

The 750 sq ft store opened in February and the trial of the new concept is to continue.

“We are looking at getting a year to 18 months under our belt. There is no huge pressure on us to do anything else. There could be some opportunities in franchising or property acquisitions,” he told The Grocer.

He said any future new stores would likely be slightly bigger on secondary retail sites with the right demographics.

The store is to retain its everything for 25p price point. It had trialled 30p and 35p but returned to 25p, which it had found to be the “cut-off” point.

When it opened, the store stocked 100 lines, which it has now dropped to the 60 top sellers. It currently opens Monday to Thursday 10am to 5pm and has no plans to extend this.

“The reason behind that is it unlike a conventional supermarket. We anticipate our customers are on low pay or zero contracts and time is not a problem for them,” he said.

He said this was also helpful in terms of staffing, allowing for lower overheads.