New grocery chain moving in our area, Lidl.

[Grateful11]

At first I thought the local newspaper website had misspelled Aldi but it's Lidl. They've already approved zoning for one in Kannapolis, NC. Apex, NC denied them zoning for one. Anyone familiar with this company?

Lidl.com

[freeradical]

I'm not sure why anyone would deny a store from moving in these days.

From what I've seen around me, very few malls are doing well, and lots of retail space is vacant.

[Mr Downtown]

Lidl is a huge European chain, originally from Germany, probably second in reach only to Aldi Nord. (Aldi USA is owned by Aldi Sud.) They've copied the Aldi model of small (by US standards) stores that discount deeply and only stock the best-selling items. They moved into the British Isles about 20 years ago to great success, and are planning about 100 US stores initially. It's interesting that they see an opportunity here, when Tesco recently got bruised trying to enter the US market and even Walmart has decided to shut down its Walmart Express group of small urban stores.

[Sam3]

Lidl does not have a stellar reputation when it comes to employees: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidl

(I don't know how to get to a specific section in Wikipedia, I wanted the link to just go to the "Criticism" section.)

[Lux Interior]

I shopped at a Lidl in France. Frustrating. Unknown brands. Stuff only in bulk when I didn't need a lot. Not a lot of selection.

Never went back.

[Billiken]

We have Lidl where I live in Poland. I really like them. They are very similar to Aldi in the USA--mostly just the basics, mostly their house brands. However, the quality is good and prices are low, and here they have many weekly promotions: Mexican week, Asian week, Workshop week (tools), etc. They also have a good wine section.


German store Lidl plans USA expansion

[cbelt3]

If they are anything like Aldi, I welcome them. Aldis are a good solution for urban 'food deserts', and they do actually have decent produce and meats, despite them being pre-packaged and shipped in rather than handled on site.

[3d]

I worked for a German corporation early in my career. I hope they carry over the numerous paid vacation days for their cashiers and stock workers.

[OWC Jamie]

It's competition for WalMart Neighborhood stores that Walmart is busily building out and Aldi's, PriceRite/SaveRite.

Lidl is supposed to be more flexible with what each individual store stocks on its shelves, stocking what moves off the shelves in high numbers rather than some cook-cutter corporate inflexible plan.

Aldi's and PriceRite around here have leased into low rent vacant strip mall properties.

[Lux Interior]

3d wrote:
I worked for a German corporation early in my career. I hope they carry over the numerous paid vacation days for their cashiers and stock workers.

Doubtful.

I work for a French company. I've worked at their offices in France and the US.

We do not get the same vacation as the French (who get about 8 weeks a year. We start at 2 in the US and max out at 5 weeks). We get the same number of holidays, though (11). We do get paid a lot more in the US, but then again, we have to pay for health insurance and fund our own retirement accounts.

But we were a US company before we were purchased. So it could be different.