Lidl Considers Expansion to Texas

Lidl, a German discount grocer already set to enter the southeastern U.S. market by 2018, is exploring the idea of opening stores in Texas, according to a published report.

The company told the Houston Business Journal that it was interested in entering the Lone Star State, but wouldn’t give specific locations

“We are in the early stages of our preparation to launch in the U.S., and have not yet made individual store announcements,” company spokesman Will Harwood wrote in an email to the Journal. “Our focus right now is in our operations along the East Coast, but we are also looking at sites in Texas.”

In 2015, Lidl revealed Arlington County, Va., as the site of its U.S. corporate headquarters, and began construction on various regional headquarters and distribution centers in Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina.

The grocer operates about 10,000 stores in 27 countries across Europe, where one of its chief competitors is Aldi, already long established in the United States,with its American headquarters in Batavia, Ill., and more than 1,500 stores in 34 states.