Batley has become home to a new halal supermarket, which has just opened it’s doors to the public, and this grand enterprise offers everything you could possibly need for putting on a feast.
Standing proud in a custom-renovated 12,000 square-foot site, with its own customer parking, the latest flagship Abu Bakr supermarket in Blakeridge Mill Shopping Centre, Batley, offers the ultimate food and groceries shopping experience.
The new state-of-the art Abu Bakr has taken one-year to complete from concept, and features continental and world foods and ingredients, fresh groceries, a custom-built butchery, in-house bakery, and even has homewares department.
The new site also features Abu Bakr’s innovative ‘food-to-go counter’, with a wide selection of vegetarian, meat, chicken and fish curries, sundries, street food ready for the customer to have packed up and take home. Perfect for those with busy lifestyles!
Friends, family, business associates, special guests and members of the local community came out to support, and witness the grand opening on Tuesday 29th October.
Brothers Abid, Sajid and Wajid Hussain – the men at the helm of the Abu Bakr Supermarkets enterprise, were joined by the next generation of the family who are playing an instrumental role in the growing success of the grocery chain.
With Batley now the fifth store in the Abu Bakr Supermarket portfolio, the grocery chain, last year, celebrated 50-years of success.
The story began when the late Chawdry Mohammed Aslam and his brothers set up their very first humble grocery store in Keighley in the 1970s; the business expanded as Mr Aslam’s eldest son Abid Hussain (fondly known as Brother Abid) brought Abu Baker to Hilltop Avenue in Leeds.
Brother Abid now runs five supermarkets with his brother Sajid and Wajid across Yorkshire, each site known as the local ‘go-to’ for fresh produce, spices and halal meats.
The success of Abu Bakr? ‘Respect and unity’, says eldest brother Brother Abid, firmly.
“At Hilltop Avenue in 1981, my father and I brought the business to Leeds. Beginning as a fish & chip shop, we ran an extended arm of a halal butchery and fresh groceries,” explains Brother Abid.
“Being in the heart of the south Asian communities, we quickly became a household name, leading us to move to a bigger premises on Roundhay Road in 2004, and then expanding by opening more sites in Leeds – Queen’s Road in Hyde Park, Dewsbury Road in Beeston, Kirkstall Road and now Batley.
“The new flagship supermarket in Batley is the latest jewel in the crown for us.
“Success isn’t about how much money you make, it’s about the difference you make to peoples lives,” insists big brother Abid Hussain.
“My younger brothers, Sajid and Wajid are my arms,” adds Brother Abid.
“Despite any challenges we may have had, without doubt we have overcome them because we had the prayers of our parents, are united as a family working as a team, always.”
Brother Abid is widely-accepted as one of Leeds’ south Asian community champions, earning him respect across and beyond postcodes.
He’ll often be seen at charity events, assisting in local homeless feeds and donating food products to charities for food parcels to be distributed among the city’s struggling families on the poverty line. He’s also personally gone out to deliver aid and create water wells and install water pipes in countries such as Africa, Pakistan and beyond.
