Europe’s largest kosher supermarket opens in Stamford Hill, with a mixed response from locals

What do you do when your family has been shopping at specialist Kosher shops for generations, but a shiny new one-stop shop opens down the road? 

Do you abandon the mom and pops and do all your shopping under one roof?

Such is the dilemma faced by Jewish shoppers in Stamford Hill, after the opening of a brand new Kosher shopping complex on the site of an old Asda.

The Hillwood Shopping District, which opened just two months ago, has divided the local Jewish community, some of whom warn of a necessary “shift in mindset” within the Chasidic community in order for the business to thrive.

The shopping centre, located on Clapton Common, and the supermarket within the centre, are owned by a consortium of Jewish business owners and investors, led by businessman Anshi Fieg, who pounced on the closure of an ASDA last year to repurpose the building.

The entire premises of over 2,500 square metres is approximately four times’ the size of the previous largest kosher supermarket in the continent, Kosher Kingdom in Golders Green.

The shop is entirely catered to the local Jewish community in more ways than just being kosher. From the shop’s focus on bulk buying to the extra-large aisles to accommodate wide strollers and big groups and big Chasidic families.

Just beyond the 40-metre-long refrigerated aisle an ingenious conveyor belt, which the owners claim to be the first in the city, allows customers to have boxes of shopping transported directly from checkout to the underground 80-space car park.

The store’s focus on bulk buying enables the store to keep prices comparatively low to specialist shops, according to Ari Feferkorn, a local man involved with the project since its inception. “The business model is more volume and clients, less margin,” he said.

“People around here are used to going to multiple specialist establishments for things they need, a butcher for meat, a bakery for bread, but now people can come here and get everything they might need in one place.

“It’s been something the community has had to adapt to, but anyone who comes is sure to come back,” he said.

Local community members and rival business owners, however, have told the JC they suspect the shop may struggle in the long run.

One owner of a butcher’s close by to Hillwood said the centre’s opening has led to a “fracturing” of opinion within the community, with him estimating that “60 per cent are in favour, with 40 per cent against.”

“You know, the Chasidic community is all about personal relationships and connection, and loyalty,” he said. “It’s not just shopping for us, it’s a social opportunity and a chance to be out in the community, to shake a hand and to catch up with people you run into. People won’t trade that in just so they can walk less,”

The manager of an alcohol and wine shop in the area predicts the shop will likely close somewhere between “a couple of months to a couple of years”.

“I know the area, I know numbers, and I know how Stamford Hill residents treat such places, I don’t think it will remain open for long,” he said.

The reason being, according to him, was that large all-encompassing malls are perceived to be “impersonal”, concerned “primarily with profit”, and harm locally owned businesses.

“My business is built on personal relationships which I have built up over many years,” he said. “I can stand at the entrance to my shop and call to people I see by name. I know their palates, what they like, what bottle they should get if they ask me for advice. Those relationships will continue, and happy customers will come back to support the places they like,”

“The first week Hype opened, everyone wanted it and were curious. The second week, lower demand, and the week after that, lower still. Amazon poses a much greater threat to my business than Hype,” he said.

A shopkeeper in a local clothing store that caters mostly to women and children said the Hillwood Shopping District was “too modern” and “felt too much like a business” to thrive in the area.

She said: “It’s still early [days], but I haven’t noticed [fewer] customers in my shop. When it first opened, people talked about it a lot and there was gossip and interest. We sent two of our kids to go and snoop around shortly after it opened and report back, and we didn’t come away from that very optimistic about Hype’s [longevity].”

The JC has learned that at least one local rabbi expressed disapproval of the shop’s opening to his congregation during a recent service. The alleged reasons for this include that in walking to the supermarket men must walk past women’s perfume and clothing shops, which is seen by some as not enough separation of the sexes, and that the Hype banner being red clashes with religious sensibilities, with the colour traditionally representing blood, sin, and fire.

Other Stamford Hill business owners spoke more positively about the opening of the kosher superstore. Chaim Fried, owner of the iconic kosher supermarket Carmel, which is directly opposite the road to Hype, said competition “is not a problem” for him.

“It’s actually a good thing, it makes me more effective,” he said.

“[Hype’s opening] may impact sales a bit, maybe 5 to 10 per cent, but people will come back. We have history and the loyalty of customers. They know the shop, the staff, the owners, they know where to find [items] in the shop. People have been coming here for years, even if they can get something slightly cheaper or even save big elsewhere, most don’t care. They value connections over saving a few pennies.”

He added that there “is always excitement around a new opening, but after a month or two people will come back to reality. There’s nothing new or greater variety [in Hype], it’s just bigger.

“I don’t think they will have a big success, but I wish them it, because why not? It is up to God.”

Volvy Cooperstein, owner of Grodzinski’s bakery for 24 years, said regarding the opening that “the more the merrier”.

“People think by Hillwood opening that we will all [lose business], but all that will happen is the area will become busier, meaning more business for everyone.”

To continue to stay afloat, he said other local business owners just have to be “on top of their market. You have to know what you’re doing, how to remain competitive and pull in customers.”

“Yes, in the beginning, people are still trying it out and there’s a lot of talk surrounding it, but things will settle eventually,” he said.

The owner of a local butcher’s said it was “about time” the Chasidic community “caught up” with the rest of the Western world. “In Israel, the US, and elsewhere, almost everything is supermarkets nowadays,” he said, “the world is changing, and I think it’s a good thing for us to evolve our habits. Ultimately, I don’t think [Hype opening] is a bad thing, it is still run by Jewish people and caters (non-exclusively) to Jews.”

Another kosher food store owner said he was “not worried” about Hype potentially taking away some of his customers.

“I have seen many shops open in my lifetime, but the ones that last gain a name for service and are built on relationships, that is unlikely to change in this community.”