Hazi Hinam Really Is Cheap, Our Data Confirms. Its Owners Are ₪1.2 Billion in Debt — and Suing Each Other Over Who Hid It.

By מערכת סופרקליר · 2026-08-10 · 5 min read

-11% — Hazi Hinam's position on Superclear's own independent priciness index — 24th of 33 chains, in the 'very cheap' band, with almost zero price variance across its 9 stores (internal-spread rank: 32 of 33) — the same month a family lawsuit exposed roughly ₪1.2 billion in group debt (Superclear data, August 2026)

On June 29, 2026, the widow and daughter of the late Zaki Shalom, co-founder of the discount chain Hazi Hinam, filed a lawsuit in the Tel Aviv District Court against his business partner, Moti Kuperli, and his family. At the center of the suit: allegations of one-sided control over group finances, freezing out the minority shareholder from decision-making, and blocking a planned bond offering roughly a year and a half earlier — according to the family, right after details of the group's assets, liabilities and financing needs began to surface (Calcalist). Kuperli responded that the chain is "managed professionally and carefully." Two days later, TheMarker reported that board-meeting minutes attached to the lawsuit revealed the Hazi Hinam group is looking for an outside investor: Harel Wizel, CEO and controlling owner of the Fox fashion chain, and Tzvi Williger, owner of the Willi-Food company, had both expressed interest in buying a stake.

For us — running a price index that scrapes data from almost every grocery chain in Israel — there's a separate question buried in this story: Hazi Hinam markets itself, by name and by campaign, as Israel's discount chain. Do the actual prices, per the data we collect every day, back that up?

What the lawsuit reveals

According to the reporting that covered the suit, the Hazi Hinam group — the chain itself, plus a jointly-owned sister real-estate company — carries combined debt of roughly ₪1.2 billion. Of that, about ₪920 million is bank debt (as of September 2025), and about ₪197 million is what the sister real-estate company owes back to Hazi Hinam itself (Bizportal/Takdin). Per Globes, the group's annual financing cost is estimated at roughly ₪120 million — a burden that reportedly drove the search for an investor willing to buy 20% to 50% of the company, at a valuation of ₪3.2-3.5 billion including debt.

Hazi Hinam is a private company that has never gone public, unlike competitors such as Shufersal, Rami Levy and Yochananof. Per Globes, Kuperli co-founded the chain with the late Zaki Shalom in 1989, after starting out with a vegetable stand at Jerusalem's Carmel Market and later a cleaning-supplies shop. Today the Kuperli family holds roughly two-thirds of the shares, and the Shalom family the remaining third.

What Superclear's own index says

This is where we can check something the financial press generally doesn't: not how much the group owes, but what it actually costs to shop there. As of August 2026 data, Hazi Hinam ranks 24th of 33 chains on Superclear's independent priciness index, 11% below the national median — under the "very cheap" label. That's a real position on the cheap end of the index, not just a marketing line. But it's worth being precise: Hazi Hinam is far from the cheapest chain we track. Rami Levy and Yochananof both sit at 14% below the median, Good Pharm at 13% below, and Osher Ad — the cheapest chain in our entire index — at 20% below. In other words: Hazi Hinam is cheaper than the median, but not as cheap as several better-known chains that don't carry the word "half free" in their name.

One more number stood out to us: how consistent that pricing is store to store. Superclear also tracks how uniform a chain's pricing is across its own branches, not just its average price. Here Hazi Hinam stands out sharply — of 33 chains, it ranks 32nd for internal price variance, meaning almost zero spread. All nine "stores" our index tracks for the chain (eight physical branches — two in Holon, one in Rehovot, three in Rishon LeZion, one in Hod HaSharon and one at Petah Tikva's Em HaMoshavot — plus its online delivery operation, counted as a ninth "store" in our data) show almost exactly the same 11% discount below the national median. That's a centralized, uniform pricing policy, not local discounts that vary branch by branch.

Real discounts, while the debt makes headlines

What stands out is that the promotions haven't slowed down. From August 2 through August 16, 2026 — while the lawsuit is still working through the courts — the chain is running "Festiugust," an alcohol festival with discounts of up to 47% on items like Aperol Spritz (₪69.90, down from ₪102.90) and Martini (₪49.90, down from ₪64.90), complete with tasting stations and live bouzouki players at flagship branches (ice.co.il). That's not a one-off promotion — it's the same chain continuing to run exactly the model that made it what it is: low, consistent prices, marketed aggressively, even as a fight plays out behind the scenes over who's responsible for the debt that built up.

What it means for shoppers

The lawsuit itself is about corporate governance and ownership — not pricing — and it hasn't been decided in court. But for anyone shopping at Hazi Hinam, there are two separate messages worth keeping apart. First: the actual prices, per our independent index, do back up the chain's cheap image — that's not a marketing illusion. Second: who will actually own this chain a year from now — Kuperli, the Shalom family, or a new investor buying up to half the company — is still an open question, tied to litigation and negotiations that haven't concluded. Whenever a resolution does arrive — on ownership, on the debt structure, or on both — that's exactly the kind of thing Superclear will keep tracking on the shelf, not just on the balance sheet.

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