With grocery stores experiencing record sales, one new-to-market grocer is continuing their metro Atlanta expansion with yet another new store. German grocer Lidl plans to open their new Brookhaven store Wednesday, July 8 at 2480 Briarcliff Road, just off I-85, in Brighten Park (fka Loehmann's Plaza). The store, which ToNeTo Atlanta exclusively reported was coming last year, opens in place of The Fresh Market, which shuttered its store in 2018.
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The 24,625 square foot store was completely renovated to accommodate the new grocer, and while smaller than most of the other Atlanta area Lidl stores which measure 36,000 square feet, it will still offer many of the amenities of the larger stores, including a fresh bakery, according to sources close to the company.
Lidl's opening at the center makes it the third store to anchor the popular intown shopping center in just the past six years. Former center namesake Loehmann's, a legendary off-price fashion retailer, closed its store at the center in 2014 amid a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. The space stayed vacant until The Fresh Market opened in July 2015, but as previously mentioned, they too, closed, shuttering the shiny new store just three years later. [The center was rechristened "Brighten Park" ahead of The Fresh Market's opening.] Enter Lidl, a growing off-price grocer which has its eyes on capturing a significant share of the American grocery market.
Lidl's current fellow anchor in the center, Tuesday Morning, is actively closing, a result of its company's restructuring following a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. Its space, like the Lidl space, has seen significant turnover over the years, being an Eckerd drug store for many years before later becoming an OfficeMax.
Lidl started 2020 by opening a new store in Peachtree Corners on May 13, and in the weeks since, has added additional new locations in Suwanee (its 100th overall store in America) and Lawrenceville. Later this summer, the company plans to open another pair of Atlanta area locations in Dunwoody and Jonesboro.
Several other stores, including those planned for East Cobb, Sandy Springs, Marietta and Woodstock(2), among others, are slated to open later in 2020 and into 2021.
In the months and years to come, Lidl also has additional stores in the works in Duluth, Roswell and Atlanta on Memorial Drive in Kirkwood, among others.
To support their Atlanta and regional expansion, Lidl announced plans in January to invest $100 million in opening what will be their fourth overall American distribution center. The center, announced in 2017 to be located in Cartersville in Bartow County, is instead coming to Covington in Newton County.
Have you been to a Lidl? Have your shopping habits changed as a result of COVID-19? What one grocery item will you travel to a specific store for?
Please share your thoughts below.
9 comments:
I have no desire to shop at lidl, aldi, etc.
I hope this Lidl will do well. The location is good in that the Whole Foods down the road has closed and the only real nearby grocery competition is Kroger (Toco Hills) and maybe Target. Looking forward to visiting, the baked goods are awesome!
*There is a Publix at Toco*
I visited the Lidl on Memorial Drive (StoneMountain/Snellville) this week on Monday. Not very impressive, although the bakery smelled good. They had lots and lots of potato chips and bottled water. If you need chips or water, that's the place to go. Produce was OK, ho hum at best. They used lots of space for bins of stuff similar to Aldi finds, but Lidl's stuff seemed lower quality and less selection than Aldi has. Also, the checkout process was SLOW. Too many people in line, line moving slowly, other employees were slow to open additional lanes. Not impressed with Lidl. I live in Brookhaven, but I'm not likely to drive past the Aldi at Clairmont/Buford Hwy to get to the Lidl. Good luck to them, I hope they do more business than the Fresh Market was able to generate.
I like the fact that Lidl is here. I have had no checkout problems at the Peachtree Corners location. I can tell they have some growing pains and supply chain issues that will eventually get resolved once their Covington distribution center opens. At only 100 stores they don't yet have the volume to have as wide a selection of private label products as Aldi (1,900 US stores) but that will change over time. These folks are not going anywhere- Google what they have done to the traditional grocers in the UK. Something similar is/will happen here.
A lot of shoppers don't really understand the Aldi and Lidl value proposition. They have a lot of top quality products at huge discounts. Fresh lump crab meat at 50% of the Publix price. 12 month aged NY cheddar at 50% of Kroger. Imported meats, cheeses, and chocolates from Europe such as Serrano ham from Spain or real 24 month aged Parmesan Reggiano from Italy at great prices compared to the Kraft garbage at Publix or Kroger. Fresh veal (at Lidl). You have to know what to look for. Fresh organic arugula at 50% of the Kroger price. Belgian trippel beer (Belgian beer is arguably the best beer in the world) at Lidl not too dissimilar from Duvel at 40% less than normal. Yes they have the commodity products with good prices like hot dogs or hamburger buns but similar to Costco the real value to me is in the high quality specialty items which have much higher prices at other places including Trader Joe's (TJ by the way is related to Aldi).
They don't get everything right - no one does but for a shopper who likes good quality and good deals they are a welcome addition. Even if you don't shop at Aldi or Lidl their mere presence will drive down prices. In Peachtree Corners an absolute grocery slugfest with Publix, Sprouts, Aldi, Lidle, Kroger, Trader Joe's, and Ingles all within close proximity.
The real question is what they will put in there after Lidl closes in 3 years. I don't know why they think putting a Dollar Store type grocery here will be successful. The area continues to get more and more affluent - especially with CHOA driving property values. Generic discount grocery items at a lesser shopping experience really just doesn't call out as a good fit.
I hope this store stays longer than three years. There are thousands of apartments close to the store with residents who are not affluent. I think as the poster above noted that they can draw higher income customers looking for specialty items at a good price. That’s what I go to Aldi or Lidl for. The Fresh Market was a store on the other hand that I would stop by for a few items and walk out without half the items on my list as I couldn’t bring myself to pay their high price on an item I could get elsewhere for much less. Hearing classical music In the store wasn’t worth the extra money.
I wonder the same thing. I am surprised the fresh market stores there and in east cobb closed.
I have never been to a Lidl but will try it out. I hope it makes it. It is nice we have a lot of grocery store choices. Although it is hard to shop all the stores. Still spend most of my grocery money at Publix. I view Aldi and Lidl more as a place to stop once in awhile but not every week. Not sure why that shopping center has so much turnover. Very sad Tuesday Morning is closing.
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