Lidl Expands Footprint in Key Market Areas
Lidl US will open a new location in New York City on Jan. 29 at Brooklyn's Gateway Center. Located at 459 Gateway Drive, the new store will hold its official ribbon-cutting ceremony at 7:40 a.m.
New York is one of three strategic markets where Lidl US is focused on growing its footprint. The discount grocer recently opened locations in the Bronx, Pelham and Glen Oaks. Lidl US also has plans to open its third location in Manhattan, with a store located at 408 Grand Street. This location is expected to debut in summer 2025.
Lidl US’ other strategic markets include Atlanta and Washington D.C.
Amid its expansion across the East Coast, Lidl US also recently unveiled a new brand campaign. The Super-EST Market campaign spotlights Lidl’s curated collection of private label picks, global imports and everyday name brands.
During Progressive Grocer’s Grocery Impact 2024 event, Managing Editor Bridget Goldschmidt spoke to Lidl US CEO Joel Rampoldt about the new campaign. “We needed to relaunch the brand,” he explained. “We had changed so much [from] the last time we did a major brand campaign, [which] was several years ago. When you think about what’s inside the four corners of our stores, particularly fresh fruit and veg, fresh bakery, fresh protein – it’s actually quite different. Our research supported [the idea that] there are a lot of customers out there who had been to our stores but hadn’t been in a long time. We wanted to reintroduce ourselves to the market, to customers who might have tried us and hadn’t been back for a while.”
To that end, Lidl stores carry fewer SKUs, but ones that have been deemed high quality, whether it’s the 49-cent croissants made with dough from France, or produce that’s fresher due to the logistics of more local pickups. In another example, Rampoldt shared how he and his team also worked to elevate the quality of the fresh beef available in the store by working with suppliers and updating the packaging and a store brand, Butcher’s Specialty.
[RELATED: Lidl Fine-Tunes U.S. Shopping Experience One Store at a Time]
Looking to the future, Rampoldt said that Lidl is well positioned in a competitive grocery arena: “Given our scale, we will never be the biggest marketer in the U.S., but we can be the most talked about.”
The Brooklyn store will open daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Lidl operates more than 12,000 stores and is active in 31 countries, employing more than 360,000 employees globally. Lidl US operates more than 170 stores across nine East Coast states and Washington, D.C. The Arlington, Va.-based grocer is No. 91 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2024 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.
