A video emerged showing customers at Masala Bazaar, a British Asian supermarket in Romford, east London, queuing separately by gender during promotional sales in late August. The footage, filmed during the store's third anniversary celebrations, showed women and men standing in separate lines to receive discounted cooking oil and other products, which subsequently circulated online.

The store's management stated the gender-divided queues were not a deliberate policy but occurred spontaneously due to severe overcrowding as customers rushed to collect free anniversary gifts during a "power hour" promotion. Staff emphasised that customers self-segregated of their own accord and that no attempt was made to enforce this arrangement, with the situation normalising within approximately one minute. Masala Bazaar, which specialises in halal meat and South Asian produce, operates across multiple UK locations and issued an apology for organisational shortcomings during the event.