The mammoth jewel in Rye Lane’s crown is Khan’s Bargains which sits pride of place at the front of the Modernist 1930s department store facade – originally founded in 1882 by British entrepreneur Harry Holdron. Cut to 2000 and Afghani Akbar Khan – whose family owned a wholesale business in Kabul before he had to flee – opened this famous Peckham grocery shop that has everything you want from a store and a whole lot more.
Khan’s is the place to buy all your fruit and veg, household basics and kitchen essentials. The shop is a cornucopia of of fruit, vegetables, pulses, spices and dried fruits and there is even one aisle devoted solely to spices. Khan’s has a comprehensive approach to stocking an item – why use one variant of cumin when you have 7 different brands to try?
Famed for its Afghani food and Indian spice section – not seen anywhere in the Lewisham, Brixton environs – people get in their cars and drive from far and wide to stockpile them. The reason for Khan’s success is that Akbar adapts the store to meet the needs of the community. As most other grocers stock African ingredients, so Khan’s Bargains is the place to find medjoul dates from Palestine, apricots from Turkey and Persian raisins. This is also the place to go if you’re having a party or starting a big project as it sells ice, paint-brushes, printing paper, plastic containers, tupperware – you name it, they have it.
Holdrons department store sat behind a magnificent art-deco frontage and, under the watchful eye of local architect Benedict O’Looney and Mr Khan, the shop’s suspended interior ceiling was removed to uncover a beautiful, vaulted 1930s ceiling. After a careful restoration, the 1000 glass lenses in the arch – along with the Edwardian lantern skylights – flood the store with daylight throughout the day, making this doyenne of 30s architecture a must-visit. While you’re there, make time (about 2 hours) to do some shopping and snap up one of Mr Khan’s newly designed ‘Store of the people’ tote bags.