ARLINGTON, Va. — Small-format discount grocer Lidl US plans to open 50 new stores by the end of 2021, which will bring Lidl’s total number of stores to more than 150 in nine East Coast states. The new stores will be located in Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia.
Lidl will invest more than $500 million in the new stores and will create about 2,000 new jobs across these communities. Lidl offers a benefits package that includes healthcare insurance for all full-time and part-time employees.
And just as it did when making a similar growth announcement a year ago, the chain said two stores opened in the retailer’s debut phase in 2017—in Havelock, N.C., and Shelby, N.C.—would be closing shortly. Lidl said the stores are closing as part of an effort to “prioritize the most convenient locations.”
Workers in those stores will have the opportunity to transfer to other locations, Lidl said.
Havelock was among 10 cities in which Lidl stores opened for the first time in June 2017; Shelby opened three months later. Both of those units occupied the custom-built, 36,000-square-foot, glass-fronted store that Lidl has since retired in favor of smaller units and retrofitted sites that now far outnumber the so-called “glass palaces” of its first generation. Eight of Lidl’s first 10 stores remain open.
The new locations, some of which have been previously announced or reported and include conversions of acquired Best Market and Shoppers Food grocery store locations, are as follows:
- New York (6 stores): Astoria, East Northport, Franklin Square, Lake Grove, Massapequa and Oakdale.
- New Jersey (10): Bayonne, Brick, Egg Harbor, Garwood, Glassboro, Gloucester Township, Lawrenceville, Park Ridge, Weehawken and Woodbridge.
- Pennsylvania (4): Clifton Heights, Lancaster, Philadelphia and Warminster.
- Delaware (1): Bear.
- Maryland (10): Annapolis, Brooklyn Park, Columbia, Glen Burnie, Frederick, Montgomery Village, Oxon Hill, Takoma Park, Timonium and Wheaton.
- Virginia (7): Alexandria, Burke, Chantilly, Charlottesville, Falls Church, Manassas and Sterling.
- North Carolina (5): Apex; Burlington, Charlotte (2) and Wilmington.
- South Carolina (1): North Charleston.
- Georgia (6): Duluth, Dunwoody, East Cobb, Marietta, Sandy Springs and Woodstock.
Lidl opened its third regional headquarters and distribution center in Cecil County, Md., earlier this year to support its store network. It plans to open its fourth distribution center in Covington, Ga., over the next two years.
Lidl US, a unit of Neckarsulm, Germany-based grocer Lidl Stiftung & Co., said it would announce specific opening dates in coming months. Lidl operates more than 11,000 stores and is active in 32 countries.
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