UK rap duo are opening a world foods supermarket in Croydon
Croydon is getting a different kind of supermarket, opening in February
UK rap duo Krept & Konan are opening a supermarket in Croydon.
The 15,000sq ft shop will open on February 1, and is called Saveways.
It may have an ordinary name, but this is no simple Tesco wannabe. Saveways is focused on the sorts of buys you might find in the “world foods” aisle of a standard supermarket.
“Why isn’t there a supermarket out there catered for us? Black, Asian ethnic minorities. That’s where we’re at,” Krept explains in a YouTube video from Link Up TV, in which the duo take a tour of the new location.
It’s being launched in partnership with “entrepeneur” Kaysor Ali, who is also behind Smacks Hamburgers, which has 10 locations — mostly in South London — and Steakout, whose eight locations are spread across the UK.
Saveways is located at 102 Beddington Lane, just behind some of the main attractions of Croydon’s retail park, and about a mile’s walk from IKEA.
“We buy BIG and sell CHEAP,” is the tagline pasted on the shop front, which also promises “exotic fish” and a fresh halal butcher section.
The supermarket is intended to be a halal-friendly place to shop. And, as you can see in the YouTube tour, there will be everyday brands there too. We spotted some Magnums in the freezer section for one.
“I'm from Thornton Heath so this is my hometown,” Konan told the BBC. “It's good to build the foundation where you started the foundation.”
An expanding empire?
This isn’t the first of the rap duo’s Croydon businesses either. In 2018 they opened Crepes and Cones, a soul food and dessert restaurant.
It was forced to close over Covid, but reopened in 2022. Crepes and Cones is currently listed as permanently closed on Google.
Krept and Konan won a best Hip-Hop Act MOBO award in 2014, and a Best Album MOBO for The Long Way Home in 2015. Their last album was released in 2019.
Saveways will open at 12pm on February 1.