Liverpool institution Matta’s celebrates 40 years on Bold Street

One of Liverpool best-loved shops, Matta’s international food shop, is celebrating 40 years at its city centre home on Bold Street.

The store, opened in 1984 by husband and wife Kirpal and Kanta Matta, has been a landmark and a community hub for generations who’ve been drawn to its exotic stock and friendly welcome.

Run by three generations, it’s now marking its 40^th birthday with a week of celebrations including golden tickets for customers, merch discounts, a raffle raising money for Liverpool children’s charity KIND and in-store events.

The family is also planning to recreate a photo taken decades ago of them outside the shop that will be familiar to fans of Matta’s, with younger members now all grown up.

Mrs Matta died four years ago, but Mr Matta – who is in his 80s – will be there and his son Dalip says it’ll be an opportunity to share memories and appreciate how much the shop has meant to people in the city.

“Because we’ve been here for 40 years we wanted to celebrate it because it is so unusual for a small independent grocers to be in the same location in the city centre and still be thriving.

“We still have many of the same customers we had from those early days and also a young crowd coming in too because we stock a lot of vegan foods and healthy foods and more unusual things you’d struggle to find anywhere else.

“There’s a Google form where customers can share their memories via our social media so we’ve been asking people to tell us what the shop means to them. 

“We’ve had some really nice feedback, they tell us it provides a community hub and a service for a diverse group of people so it’s more than just a shop and they remember everything from how charming my dad is to my mum’s cooking tips.

“Matta’s is just special to an awful lot of people.”

Dalip says one of the reasons customers love Matta’s is the friendly personal approach that his parents, he and his brother Deepak and his children have always taken.

“Most supermarkets now are going towards more self-service checkouts and people who are living on their own might have no contact with anyone at all because they can’t even chat to the cashier anymore. 

“Having that personal connection really makes a difference to people, we have a lot who come in who just want to stop and chat and it’s nice to be able to do that, for us and for them. We do have a strong family ethos which means making everyone welcome.”

Matta’s moved to Bold Street from a previous shop in Granby Street which Kirpal and Kanta opened in 1965 near the family’s home in Toxteth.

Then the street was totally different to how it is now. “There used to be loads of small shops selling different things, a locksmith, people selling dishes, small shoe shops, but most of them closed down when the supermarkets came along,” remembers Mr Matta. 

Matta’s survived by selling lots of things supermarkets weren’t interested in selling because the profit wasn’t big enough.

As a result, it’s built up a loyal fanbase who travel for miles to stock up.

“We have people asking if we can open a shop in Southport or in Wales, and customers who come from Anglesey to buy all their spices because they can’t get them there. If we haven’t got it, it’s not worth having!”

Over the years, Matta’s has become so popular it’s even got its own merch.

“That’s been absolutely huge, we have an online store as well so we get a lot of orders through our website and we post them all over the country. People come to uni here and then if they move on they still follow us on social media and when they see the T-shirts they love them because they’re a reminder of being at uni and in the city.”

As part of the birthday celebrations, the T-shirts will be discounted next Saturday and on Wednesday and Saturday, the 40^th customer of the day will be a golden ticket winner, getting a 40% discount off their shop.

The shop has also been decorated to honour the one family member who’ll sadly be missing from the party.

Bunting has been made from Mrs Matta’s saris which is hanging around the shop as a reminder of how loved she was by customers as well as family.

Visit the Matta’s website to find out more HERE.

Get the latest Food & Drink news for Liverpool City Region HERE.