Kemi Adegboyega talks about Alton's first African food grocery

What started out as long-distance grocery shopping to help the neighbours has grown into a new shop in Alton.
David and Kemi Adegboyega have just opened Africstore Alton: The Continental in Lenten Street.
Kemi said: “We both moved to the UK from Nigeria when we were 16. At first we lived in London, and of course that’s a multicultural hub, but when we moved to Basingstoke 24 years ago they didn’t have anything African.
“We went back to London to buy the things we liked, and we asked people we knew if they wanted anything. We shopped for eight or nine families and one suggested ‘why don’t you do it for a business?’. We started in our garage, selling wholesale stuff, then got a rented place nine years ago.”
The couple moved to Alton in 2023 - intending to send their younger children to the now-closed Alton School - and found a similar lack of African stores in Alton.
Kemi said: “We were doing deliveries in Alton, Winchester, Farnborough and Guildford, so we knew there was a market. We asked the Alton customers on our WhatsApp group if opening a shop here was a good idea and they said yes.
“The business is all my husband’s idea - I’m his support system! My mum, nieces and 20-year-old daughter are also involved, so it’s completely family-run.”
Plantains, yams, cow foot, goat meat and malt drinks are all stocked at Africstore. The shop is a former café and the couple hope to use its kitchen to also offer cooked food, tea and coffee to customers.
Kemi added: “We’ve been here three weeks now. It’s quiet early in the day but it picks up in the afternoon and everyone is in on Saturdays - we’ve had South Africans, Zimbabweans and Nigerians in here, as well as people from Trinidad and the Grenadines. It’s going well.”