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Aldi to open 100 new stores, add 500 curbside pickup sites in 2021

Upcoming distribution center positions discount grocer for Gulf Coast expansion

Russell Redman

February 10, 2021

3 Min Read
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Aldi said the 'coast to coast' expansion will focus on Arizona, California, Florida and the Northeast.Aldi

This year, deep-discount grocer Aldi U.S. plans to open its 26th regional headquarters and about 100 new stores, as well as extend curbside pickup to 500 more stores.

Aldi said Wednesday the “coast to coast” expansion will focus on Arizona, California, Florida and the Northeast. The Batavia, Ill.-based retailer also opened nearly 100 stores in 2020, which brought the company into its 37th state, Arizona. In an interview last July, Aldi U.S. CEO Jason Hart said the chain next will enter Louisiana as its 38th state.

Currently, Aldi operates more than 2,070 stores in 37 states. The company reached the 2,000-store milestone in June with two new stores in California.

Next year will see Aldi expanding in the Gulf Coast region. To that end, the chain today broke ground on a new regional headquarters and distribution center in Loxley, Ala. The 564,000-square-foot facility, the company’s sixth distribution center in the southern United States, will serve up to 100 stores in Alabama, southern Georgia, Mississippi, the Florida Panhandle and Louisiana.

Aldi said it aims to open up to 35 new Gulf Coast-area stores by the end of 2022. The first two stores in the region, located in Tallahassee, Fla., are due to open later this year. The new Loxley distribution center also is slated to open next year. The facility will include sustainable building elements — such as solar panels, LED lighting and an environmentally friendly refrigeration system — and create 200 jobs, Aldi noted.

Related:Aldi, Instacart expand SNAP online EBT to over 1,500 stores

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Supported by a new distribution center in Loxley, Ala., Aldi plans to open up to 35 stores in the Gulf Coast region by the end of 2022.

On the e-commerce front, the 500 planned new curbside pickup sites will expand the service — powered by Instacart — to more than 1,200 stores by the end of this year, according to Aldi. Curbside orders are placed via Aldi’s Instacart page or mobile app, and Aldi store associates pick and pack the groceries and bring them out to customers’ vehicles.

“We’re incredibly proud to continue growing in all aspects of our business, from opening new stores to enhancing our e-commerce offerings, especially in light of the challenges businesses have faced in the last year,” Hart said in a statement. “Our commitment to our shoppers, new and existing, is the same. We will do everything in our power to offer the lowest possible prices every day, and we look forward to supporting more communities across the country with amazing Aldi products at a value that can’t be matched.”

The curbside expansion builds on a 600-store rollout of Instacart pickup that Aldi announced in late May, following an earlier pilot of the service. Aldi also has teamed up with San Francisco-based Instacart to enable electronic benefit transfer payments for online grocery pickup and delivery orders in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Aldi and Instacart kicked off the SNAP EBT integration at over 60 stores in Georgia in November and then extended the rollout to 570-plus stores in Illinois, California, Florida, Pennsylvania and Texas in early December. Later that month, they announced an expanded deployment to another 1,000 stores.

Related:Aldi eyes easier COVID-19 vaccinations for employees

Aldi announced its online grocery partnership with Instacart in August 2017 and rolled out same-day delivery chainwide in the fall of 2018, with the service now available at almost all of Aldi’s stores. The retailer also launched alcohol delivery through Instacart in November 2019.

Under a $5 billion, five-year growth strategy launched in 2017, Aldi aims to remodel and/or expand more than 1,300 stores and extend its retail network from 1,700 to 2,500 stores by the end of 2022. Hart reported in late July that 850 stores had been remodeled under the upgrade plan begun in February 2017 and that Aldi expects to complete the program over the next couple of years.

About the Author

Russell Redman

Senior Editor
Supermarket News

Russell Redman has served as senior editor at Supermarket News since April 2018, his second tour with the publication. In his current role, he handles daily news coverage for the SN website and contributes news and features for the print magazine, as well as participates in special projects, podcasts and webinars and attends industry events. Russ joined SN from Racher Press Inc.’s Chain Drug Review and Mass Market Retailers magazines, where he served as desk/online editor for more than nine years, covering the food/drug/mass retail sector. 

Russell Redman’s more than 30 years of experience in journalism span a range of editorial manager, editor, reporter/writer and digital roles at a variety of publications and websites covering a breadth of industries, including retailing, pharmacy/health care, IT, digital home, financial technology, financial services, real estate/commercial property, pro audio/video and film. He started his career in 1989 as a local news reporter and editor, covering community news and politics in Long Island, N.Y. His background also includes an earlier stint at Supermarket News as center store editor and then financial editor in the mid-1990s. Russ holds a B.A. in journalism (minor in political science) from Hofstra University, where he also earned a certificate in digital/social media marketing in November 2016.

Russell Redman’s experience:

Supermarket News - Informa
Senior Editor 
April 2018 - present

Chain Drug Review/Mass Market Retailers - Racher Press
Desk/Online Editor 
Sept. 2008 - March 2018

CRN magazine - CMP Media
Managing Editor
May 2000 - June 2007

Bank Systems & Technology - Miller Freeman
Executive Editor/Managing Editor
Dec. 1996 - May 2000

Supermarket News - Fairchild Publications
Financial Editor/Associate Editor
April 1995 - Dec. 1996 

Shopping Centers Today Magazine - ICSC 
Desk Editor/Assistant Editor
Dec. 1992 - April 1995

Testa Communications
Assistant Editor/Contributing Editor (Music & Sound Retailer, Post, Producer, Sound & Communications and DJ Times magazines)
Jan. 1991 - Dec. 1992 

American Banker/Bond Buyer
Copy Editor
Oct. 1990 - Jan. 1991 

This Week newspaper - Chanry Communications
Reporter/Editor
May 1989 - July 1990

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