Supermarket giant Aldi appears to be prospering with its cheap vegetables whereas others in the UK retail scene are falling by the wayside in tough economic conditions.
Milestone – 1,000 stores.
The chain opened its 1,000th store, in leafy Woking, Surrey, this week.
It plans to open 1,500 stores over the next few years. The chain will expand in the wealthy southeast and London at a time when High Street household names are closing down.
More stores than Sainsbury’s
If successful, Aldi will have more stores than Sainsbury’s.
“Indeed, in some categories, when you look at volumes, we’re already the second largest player in the UK,” says Giles Hurley, Aldi’s UK and Ireland chief.
Aldi will target areas where it doesn’t have stores in a bid to grow its market share. It claims it has gathered more than a million new customers in the last year. The cost of living crisis forced many shoppers to seek cheaper prices.
A story 120 years old.
Aldi’s story began in the German town of Essen, in 1913, the second largest city in the industrial Ruhr region.
Here the Albrecht family started their own grocery business.
In 1960, the family came up with the brand name – an abbreviation of Albrecht Diskont. The company expanded to 11 countries over the next 30 years opening 7,245 stores. In 1990 it opened up in the UK.
Not everyone is a fan. On X this week, a customer complained about service.
“Where do you get your staff from,” says Rob Beers on X.
Where is the thank you?
“So many staff in recent visits with no acknowledgement, manners, or a thank you.”
Yet another Aldi watcher on X, maybe with one eye on the expansion, says: “You would make a killing if you opened a store in Peckham!”
Meanwhile Aldi, with its homegrown cheap vegetables, ploughs on.
