Turkey’s Inflation Crunch Spurs Rise of Salvage Grocery Chain

Turkey’s cost-of-living crisis has given rise to the country’s first salvage grocery chain, as shoppers squeezed by years of high inflation hunt for cheaper food.

Yenir stores — meaning “eatable” in Turkish — sell near-expiry or past best-by products sourced mainly from major grocery chains. The startup, Yenir Teknoloji AS, opened its first store in Istanbul in late 2023 and now operates five locations across four cities, catering largely to urban wage earners whose purchasing power has eroded.