Lidl US announced plans today to open 50 new stores by the end of 2021. The only Delaware store on the list is a location on Route 40 at the site of the former Countryside garden center.
Dates for store openings were not announced. No site work has yet been done at the Bear location.
Grocery stores fared well during the coronavirus pandemic, with sales gains driven by stay at home orders and advisories.
Other Lidl stores will be located in Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Virginia. The new locations will bring Lidl’s total number of stores in the US to more than 150.
Lidl will invest more than $500 million in the new stores and will create about 2,000 new jobs. Lidl offers a wage and benefits package that includes healthcare insurance for every full and part-time employee.
Lidl highlighted a study from the University of North Carolina Kenan-Flagler Business School that showed its prices were up to 45 percent lower when it entered the Long Island, NY market with the purchase of a small grocerey store chain.
Click here for earlier stories on Lidl.
This month, the National Retail Federation ranked Lidl as the top retailer in its Hot 100 Retailers list of fastest-growing companies.
Earlier this year, Lidl opened its third regional headquarters and distribution center near Delaware in Cecil County, MD. It plans to open its fourth distribution center in Covington, Georgia over the next two years.
Lidl is recent entrant to the U.S. market and got off to a bumpy start when it slowed down and reassessed its expansion program, with the Cecil County distribution center remaining largely unused for a time.
In its latst announcement, the company confirmed it will shutter two stores in North Carolina.
Lidl has operated a store in Middletown for a few years and more recently opened a location in Dover.
The grocer’s German rival Aldi has grown more rapidly. Both chains focus on private label brands at discount prices.
Worldwide, Lidl operates more than 11,000 stores and is active in 32 countries, employing around 287,000.
