Helping local businesses connect with local customers.
Independent shops and services have something happening every single day: a fresh batch out of the oven, a garage with a lift free this afternoon, a same-day repair slot, a table going spare tonight, a short-lived offer. Sastamal is where they tell you about it, the moment it happens.
Free for you. Free for them. No commission, ever.
The best things happen today, and nobody hears about them.
Walk down any high street in Birmingham and something good is happening right now. A tray of samosas just came out of the fryer. The barber has a chair free for the next hour. A grocer has a crate of mangoes that won't survive till Monday. A café is quiet and would happily do two coffees for the price of one. A salon has a last-minute cancellation this afternoon.
None of it reaches the people who'd want it. The shop is busy serving. Posting to social media takes ten minutes they don't have, and reaches followers who live three cities away. So the moment passes, quietly.
Sastamal exists to close that gap. A shop shares what's happening in seconds. No account, no login, no cost. It appears for people nearby, right now. And when the moment's over, it clears itself away.
This isn't about clearing unwanted stock. It's about the good things a shop already has, finding the people who'd love them, while they're still good.
To be the easiest way for an independent shop to tell nearby people what's happening today.
Seconds, not minutes
A shop owner is behind a counter, not a desk. Posting has to be faster than opening Instagram, or it won't happen at all.
Near you, not everywhere
A croissant in Moseley is no use to someone in Manchester. We show what's happening close enough to walk to.
Now, not last week
Everything posted has an end time and clears itself away. If it's on Sastamal, it's genuinely on.
What we hold ourselves to.
Support local
We exist to help independent businesses reach the people on their doorstep.
Keep it simple
Posting should take seconds. Every field we add is a field a shop owner has to fill.
Right place, right time
What's happening today. Not last week's offer, still hanging around.
Community first
We measure success by shops and neighbours connecting, not by clicks.
Every shop that joins agrees to how we work.
A good price on good things.
Sasta maal (سستا مال / सस्ता माल) means affordable goods: a fair price on something worth having. It's an everyday phrase across South Asia, and one you'll hear in Birmingham too.
We chose it because it's exactly what this is about. Not cheap tat, not endless discounts, not shops offloading what they couldn't sell. Real value, from real shops, found by people who live nearby.
Birmingham has independent high streets in every direction, which is exactly where something like this works. It felt right to start here.
Find what's on, near you, right now.
- Discover local businesses you'd walk past without knowing what's inside.
- Find today's offers while they're still on, everything has a clock.
- Support independents directly. Every pound stays with the shop.
- Explore your neighbourhood by area, so it's always walkable.
- Never miss a limited-time deal from the places you already love.
- No account needed. Just open it and look.
Your own secure link. No login, no commission.
Post in seconds
Open your link, type what's happening, choose when it ends. That's it, it's live.
Reach people nearby
Your update shows to people in your area who are looking for somewhere to go today.
Keep every penny
No commission, no listing fee, no contract. What a customer spends is entirely yours.
- Promote today's specials
- Share fresh products
- Fill a quiet afternoon
- Increase footfall
- Clear the clock, not your stock
One neighbourhood at a time.
It would be easy to launch everywhere at once and be useful nowhere. We'd rather be genuinely worth opening in one place than thin across fifty.
Birmingham has one of the most extraordinary independent scenes in the country, the food of the Balti Triangle and Ladypool Road, the bakeries of Alum Rock and cafés of Digbeth, but also the barbers, salons, garages, tailors and family shops that have served the same streets for decades. It's a city that already understands good value.
So we build street by street, until someone in a neighbourhood can open Sastamal and reliably find something worth walking to.
When that works, we do it in the next place, wherever there's a high street worth showing off. Never faster than we can do it properly.
Why I built this.
I've always thought there was something unfair about how hard it is for a small shop to be heard. A big chain can buy attention. A family bakery with the best bread on the road cannot, and often doesn't have ten minutes spare to try.
Sastamal started as a simple idea: give those shops a way to say "this is happening, right now" that takes seconds, costs nothing, and reaches the people who live around the corner.
I want Sastamal to be the thing people check before they decide where to go, and something independent businesses genuinely trust, because it takes nothing from them.
- Adam K. S.
Co-Founder, Sastamal
Frequently asked.
Is Sastamal free?
Yes, completely, for everyone. Shoppers don't pay and don't need an account. Businesses pay no listing fee and no commission. Whatever a customer spends in a shop stays with the shop.
How do businesses join?
Get in touch and we'll set you up. We add each shop ourselves and send a secure posting link. There's no signup form to wrestle with, and no password to remember.
Are businesses verified?
Yes. Every shop is added by us, not by self-signup, we confirm the business is real and that we're speaking to the owner before we send their link. Only verified shops can post.
Do deals expire automatically?
Always. Every post has an end time chosen by the shop, and disappears from the board the moment it's reached. If something's showing on Sastamal, it's genuinely on.
Can anyone post deals?
No. Posting is only possible through a shop's own secure link, which we issue directly. There's no public posting, which is how we keep the board trustworthy.
Is there an app?
You don't need one. Add Sastamal to your home screen and it opens like an app, full screen, its own icon, no download, no account, no updates eating your storage. On iPhone: tap Share, then Add to Home Screen. On Android: tap the menu (⋮), then Add to Home screen or Install.
Which areas are supported?
We're building neighbourhood by neighbourhood rather than city by city, because a deals board is only useful when it's genuinely full of things near you. Use the area picker at the top to see what's on where you are.
How does Sastamal make money, if it's free?
Honestly? Not yet. In time we'll charge shops for optional extras that amplify a post, never for access, never a cut of a sale. How we work spells this out.
See what's on today.
Or get your shop on Sastamal, it takes one conversation.