You may have heard about the U.S. arrival of German grocery chain Lidl. Lots of people are excited, other stores are not.
Lidl is a German grocery chain that’s been angling to enter the American market for years. Now, it’s finally opening its first 10 U.S. stores in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia with plans to expand aggressively across the country to the tune of 80 stores on the East Coast by mid-2018.
According to Business Insider, Lidl describes itself as a cross between Trader Joe’s and Harris Teeter. (Harris Teeter, for those not in the South, is mid-tier grocery store chain, nicer than a Jewel Osco, but not quite as high-end as Whole Foods. Something like a Mariano’s, if that means anything to you.) Which is to say, it’s just about the ideal tier of grocery store, except Lidl is also super cheap.
Lidl looks to fit the trendy, open, airy concept plan of many grocery stores. Rather uniquely, the store only has six aisles total, which, CEO Brendan Proctor says, is to “make it as easy as possible for customers to quickly find what they need for a convenient shopping experience.”
In Europe, where the chain operates 10,000 stores, Lidl is most associated with rock-bottom prices like those of Aldi, reports Business Insider. About 90 percent of the stores products are private label (or store brand) and they are 50 percent cheaper than their rivals. At the same time, Lidl price-matches all their brand name products. Part of the way they keep prices so cheap is by limiting inventory — only a few brands of each product.
Because this is America, there is one key distinction between European and American Lidl stores, and it’s a very American distinction. Lidl US has a cooler section for alcohol. God bless America.
