Apparently, they have been in existence since 1975, but when I first went into their Longsight shop to buy chapati bread, fruit and vegetables sometime around 2003 – 2004, it was only a continental supermarket then, with lots and lots of specialty and imported foods. There were many brands I instantly recognised from my childhood, the Milo and Nido couldn’t be missed, Lipton, Knorr, the Rajah spices and Maggi noodles, Unilever’s products were everywhere,  they even had the same brand of basmati rice my mother used to buy when I was growing up…

And as you can see above, they have diversified and now have a pharmacy (never mind the butchery, and ‘home delivery’ options they now offer).

While there are many continental shops in Manchester, few are as impressive as APPNA, which is probably one of the largest and most popular continental stores in the North West.  I doubt you can find a Malawian who has been in Manchester for over 3 years, who doesn’t know where APPNA is, or who doesn’t know someone who sources their IWISA from them 🙂