Aldi wants to open 800 new stores in the US. Swiss achieves record results in 2023

German discounter Aldi plans about 800 new stores in the US by the end of 2028. About $9 billion will flow into expansion in the coming years, as the company announced Friday in Batavia, Illinois. Nearly 330 of the new locations will be built in the Northeast and Midwest.

Aldi recently completed the acquisition of US retailer Southeastern Grocers and its supermarket chains Winn-Dixie and Harveys. Some of the approximately 400 stores in the southeastern United States will be gradually converted into Aldi stores over the coming years, the company announced on Friday. However, some locations will continue to operate under their current brand names.

The discounter’s American activities are owned by Aldi Süd, based in Mülheim an der Ruhr. The company posted net sales of 16.9 billion euros in the US in 2022, according to trade research institute EHI. In recent years, Aldi says it opens more than 100 new branches there every year, with a total of more than 2,200. Competitor Lidl has fewer than 200 stores in the US.

Aldi had recently announced that it wanted to expand its operations in Britain. This year, the equivalent of 644 million euros will be invested in building new branches and modernizing existing ones. The company did not reveal how many new stores there are.

Founders Karl and Theo Albrecht split Aldi into two independent companies in 1961: Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd. Since then, the Aldi equator not only runs through Germany, but the world is also divided. For example, the branches in France, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain belong to Aldi Nord. Aldi Süd focuses on customers in Great Britain, Italy and Australia. Both companies have a presence in the US, but Aldi Nord operates under the name Trader Joe’s. The first Aldi store in the US opened in 1976. (sda/awp/dpa)