Krept & Konan are set to open a new supermarket in their hometown of Croydon to cater to the area’s diverse community. The duo say that Saveways will be the first large-scale supermarket to directly serve the needs of Black, Asian and ethnic minorities.
It will launch on February 1 in Croydon, on a 15,000 sq. ft retail site close to Asda and IKEA on Beddington Lane.
The supermarket will feature a halal meat and poultry counter, fresh and frozen exotic fish, a bakery, fruit and veg, tinned and ambient foods from around the world, and household essentials, including hair and beauty products. It will also sell foods from global brands like McCain and Heinz and has made a distribution deal with Martin’s potato rolls from the US.
Speaking to BBC London, Konan said “We like to get involved with businesses that solve problems and give back to the community.” The South London rappers say that Croydon, a diverse area with over 250,000 residents of black, Asian and mixed backgrounds, is under-served by smaller food shops that “often lack in product variety, hygiene standards, parking and fair pricing”.
Krept added that he “immediately” understood the space for a supermarket that could meet the needs of Croydon’s diverse population when their business partner and co-founder, Kaysor Ali pitched it to them.
He explained that “Having the experience of going shopping and having to go to multiple places – have to go to here for my meat, here for my fruit and veg and then for certain seasonings I have to go here – not everything is in the major supermarkets,”
“They just have one world food aisle, and it was like, ‘imagine that, but a whole supermarket.'”
It’s not the first business venture the industrious UK hip hoppers have launched. In 2018, the ‘Freak of the Week’ hitmakers teamed up with grime veteran J2K to open Crepes & Cones, a restaurant in Croydon that offered desserts, fast food, cold drinks and cocktails.
More recently, Krept and his former partner, model Sasha Ellese, have created Nala’s Baby, a skincare range for young children. Currently valued at £17 million, their brand has seen great success and garnered multiple industry awards, including the Mother Baby Gold Award for the Best Baby Skincare Range for two years in a row. It’s even had investments from figures such as Marcus Rashford, Jaden Sancho and Anthony Joshua.
In an interview with the Telegraph, Krept said “I’ve always wanted to branch out and not just do music. I’m really keen on different streams of income. I also want to create a life for my daughter that I wasn’t able to have. I don’t want her to go through the sort of things that we did as kids.”
Krept and Konan are currently gearing up to return on the UK music scene with their fourth studio album, ‘Young Kingz II’, described as a more mature version of their breakout mixtape ‘Young Kingz’. The album will be released on Feburary 7 through their independent label, Play Dirty.
The Croydon artists have dropped a few singles for their rollout, including a smooth drill track “Low Vibrations”, and two introspective tunes, “Nala’s Song” and “Delroy’s Son” – the first a tribute to Krept’s daughter, and the second to Konan’s father, Jamaican reggae singer Delroy Wilson.
The album is currently available for pre-save on the duo’s Spotify page here.
