UK supermarket group Asda is trialling its first World Food Store, which carries foods from Mediterranean, Irish, Asian, Afro Caribbean and Polish nationalities.
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The store, located in Hounslow, will carry “hundreds of lines” from across the chilled, frozen and ambient food categories as well as clothing, homeware and health and beauty, Asda said.
A spokesperson for the company told just-food that the launch came in response to the needs of the multicultural community served by the store and that this had informed SKUs carried.
Asda worked with local communities to determine what would go on its shelves, the company said. According to Asda, the two “most popular” food counters Delicja and Haji Baba – Delicja is a Polish deli counter hosted by purely Polish colleagues and Haji Baba is a local Halal butcher who has been in the area for 30 years.
“In the last year we have seen a 42% year on year rise in sales of ethnic products across our stores, off the back of an 83% increase last year, showing that there is a real appetite for diverse and specialist foods from across the world,” Cathryn Ramsden, emerging markets customer planning manager said.
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By GlobalData“We felt it was the right time to launch our first World Food store in Hounslow which will help broaden our customer base and make Asda the supermarket of choice for all.”
The concept is being launched on a trial basis with a view to rolling it out nationally next year, Asda said.
