Meet the Brain Behind Ooze, Ouseburn's First Convenience Store
Brand-new convenience store Ooze is providing the people of Ouseburn with corner shop classics and local loveliness
Whether you live or work in Ouseburn, are a regular visitor, or even just enjoy a pint in one of the area’s many delightful pubs, you’ll be familiar with the long-running issue that this popular culture quarter has – there’s no shop. Nowhere to buy post-night out snacks, grab a can of pop on a Sunday walk through the valley or drop into for much-needed essentials when you can’t be bothered to go to a bigger store. Luckily, that’s all changed with the opening of Ooze Convenience Store.
‘The Ouseburn is somewhere I’ve wanted to be for a long, long time,’ says Hassan Khan, owner of Ooze. ‘It’s been about eight years since I had the idea of wanting a shop here; I’ve been manifesting it.’
‘There’s never been a shop here, so it’s actually changing people’s shopping patterns’
Ooze, on Maling Street, is Ouseburn’s newest (and only) corner shop, offering essentials such as milk and bread, alongside local delights and rare finds from overseas. ‘There’s never been a shop here, so it’s actually changing people’s shopping patterns. Instead of going to the supermarket for milk and bread, people can come here and also get a nice bottle of wine, some cooking products, good cans of pop and some whisky. We’ve got a bit of everything.’
For Hassan, corner shops are a family affair. Before Ooze, he gained valuable experience working in his dad’s shop, H&S Store, in Hadrian Park, Wallsend. ‘I moved back from uni in Manchester during lockdown and my dad had a very old-school convenience store mindset, not believing that a can of beer for four quid would sell. I started getting in all this local stuff, looking at the market traders that closed due to Covid and getting in touch with them saying I wanted to stock them. It worked well for both parties.’
Ooze stock a range of products, including local gems from Geordie Bangers, Acorn Dairy, Catchi’s Kimchi and Fika Coffee Roasters. ‘It’s going to sound really cocky but I just sort of know myself what will sell and taste good,’ says Hassan. ‘I’ll go on Instagram to see what’s selling in London, Manchester and Leeds and judge the market from there. If you stock anything local, people like to buy it because it supports local and it’s one big circle. You buy local, it supports a local business and they can produce more and benefit the community.
‘When I opened up, I put a post up on Reddit to get people to comment on what they liked and wanted to see stocked,’ he continues. ‘Then, just being in the area as the shop was being built I was chatting to customers and it was the same stuff they were wanting, but they didn’t want to spend an arm and a leg for everything. So, it’s about keeping prices reasonable too.’
So far, business is booming. ‘Come weekends, it does get busy. There’s been a lot of positive feedback but it is kind of a one-man band. I’ve got staff that serve, but it’s just me that does emails and ordering. It’s a bit overwhelming trying to run two stores at once, I feel like I’ve aged about 30 years in the past two weeks!’
The only issue so far is people seeing the store’s cool exterior and assuming it’ll be too upmarket and expensive, though Hassan says it’s ‘kind of a good problem’. ‘It’s a normal convenience store with normal products. People think we’re one of those places that charge a fiver for a pack of Space Raiders, and I’m like “I’ll charge you a fiver for them if you really want me to, but I’m not doing that!”’
The vision for Ooze is as a place for the community to come together; they’ve already collaborated with Collective Run Club, providing a vibey space for a post-run social with beers and snacks every Thursday. As for the future, Hassan wants to focus on building the brand and hopefully getting another shop open. ‘Down the coast is where I want to be next. But my main priority is to get this place up and running. We have a lot of things on the cards for this coming year. One of them is Ooze Collective – once a month on a Sunday, we’ll have local DJs and artists from the area coming in. They’ll be playing music, there’ll be prints and tote bags to buy, there’ll be beer on the go and some wine flying out – like an Ouseburn Maling Street party!’
Where’s your favourite place to eat in Ouseburn?
That’s a hard one… Miso.
What’s your ultimate corner shop haul?
Orange Lucozade, pickled onion Space Raiders, a white Kinder Bueno and a Dr Pepper. But you’ve got to eat the Kinder Bueno while drinking the Dr Pepper – it tastes unreal!
Is there anything you’ve stocked recently you’re really excited about?
I think having Japanese stuff is really cool, like the different flavours of Fanta [that we don’t have in the UK]. The beers that Wylam bring out are pretty cool, too.
Where’s your favourite place in Newcastle?
Holywell Dene!
Visit Ooze at 10 Maling Street, Ouseburn and find them on Instagram @ooze_ncl.
