Lidl, the well-known discount grocery store, has announced its expansion plans, which include opening several new stores in various states across the country. If you’re a fan of the brand, here’s where the new locations will be, so you can see if one is opening closer to you.
How many new stores will Lidl open?
So far, the company has not revealed exactly how many new stores it will open in the near future. However, four new locations have already opened this year.
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Where will the new Lidl stores open?
The next grand opening is scheduled for July 11 in Newark, Delaware. According to the company, additional new stores will be located in major cities along the East Coast of the United States. By the end of 2025, the company is expected to have new locations in cities such as New York, Atlanta, and throughout the DC metropolitan areas.
Where has Lidl already opened stores?
In the first few months of the year, the grocery chain opened four new locations in the following places:
- Brooklyn, New York – Opened on January 29
- Paramus, New Jersey – Opened on February 12
- Freehold, New Jersey – Opened on May 9
- Brooklyn, New York – Opened on May 23
How many Lidl stores are there in the United States?
Currently, the company operates 186 stores in the U.S. Most of them are located along the East Coast, with Virginia hosting the largest number—35 stores—making up roughly 19% of all locations in the country. Globally, the company runs more than 12,000 stores across 31 countries.
A Brief History of Lidl
In the 1930s, two German families—the Schwarz and Lidl families—joined forces to create a wholesale food distribution business. The Lidl family already had industry experience, as they owned the fruit wholesale group Südfrüchte Großhandel Lidl & Co. This partnership gave birth to Lidl & Schwarz, the foundation of what we now know as Lidl.
In its early years, the company operated small retail stores across Germany. However, World War II forced many of them to close. It wasn’t until 1968 that the Schwarz family revived the business. Josef Schwarz, the family heir, founded Handelshof, a wholesale company. In 1973, to clear out excess stock from Handelshof, Josef opened a discount supermarket in the city of Neckarsulm.
After Josef’s death in 1977, his son Dieter Schwarz took over the business. Visionary and driven, Dieter expanded the discount store model throughout Germany. However, he faced a branding issue, as “Schwarz” could be linked to the term “Schwarz-mark,” meaning black market. To avoid negative connotations, he chose to name the stores “Lidl.”
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To secure the brand, Dieter negotiated with Ludwig Lidl, heir to the Lidl family, who sold him the naming rights for 1,000 Deutschmarks. Dieter then established two divisions: discount stores under the Lidl brand, and hypermarkets under the Kaufland name.
The strategy proved hugely successful. By 1988, just ten years later, there were over 450 stores in West Germany. Since then, the company has continued to grow and expand globally, becoming one of the world’s leading supermarket chains.
Where is the largest Lidl in the world?
Lidl’s largest facility in the world is a regional distribution center (RDC) located in Houghton Regis, Luton, in the United Kingdom. This massive logistics hub officially opened following a £300 million investment. The facility is three times the size of Lidl’s other existing warehouses, making it the company’s biggest to date.
