[ALERT] Lidl to Open New Store in Renovated Shopping Center

A metro Atlanta shopping center that once housed a Kmart and a Big Star grocery store is about to get a new grocer for the first time in decades.  Arbor Square - 9520 Georgia 5 in Douglasville - was built in 1977 and after significant renovations in recent years, today is home to HomeGoods, Skechers Outlet, Burlington, Tile and Stone Express, and a host of smaller shops and restaurants.  

After the renovations Arbor Square was also home to a bealls store, but it closed and now a new Lidl grocery store is to open in its place.   Lidl - rhymes with needle - is a German-based discount grocer similar to Aldi.  The new Lidl will be 20,735 square feet and is opening between HomeGoods and Cosmo Prof.  

A new Lidl was planned and previously approved by the Douglasville Planning and Development Committee in 2017, but it never opened.  The freestanding store was to be about 36,000 square feet and would have been built on a roughly five acre property at 5922 Fairburn Road, about 3.5 miles from the upcoming store.  

Related: Bob's Discount Furniture is also opening a new store in Douglasville.  

The company opened its first Georgia store in late 2017 in Augusta, and entered the Atlanta market in early 2019.  In the years since, the grocer has grown to 19 stores in the state.  The company previously closed locations in Dunwoody (February 2023) and Sandy Springs (July 2022), and also cancelled several that were planned for metro Atlanta, including those in Decatur, Old Fourth Ward, downtown, and Woodstock, among others.    

The company has cycled through six CEOs in its U.S. division.  Marco Giudici, former CEO of Lidl Romania, was in January named CEO of Lidl US on an "interim" basis. (Joel Rampoldt had been the company's CEO since 2023 but stepped down in January and is now serving as an advisor to the grocer.)    

This frequent change at the top has led to several stops, starts, and new directions for the company, and created challenges for the grocer as it seeks to capture a greater share of the U.S. grocery market.

The Germany-based discount grocer opened a new Atlanta area store at Phase 2 of The Interlock on Northside Drive near Georgia Tech this past October. ToNeTo Atlanta has reported in recent months that Lidl is starting to grow again in metro Atlanta with a heavily delayed location in Norcross back on track and another new location in Marietta in development.  

The new Lidl in Douglasville will be the first in Douglas County.  

Are you pleased to hear Lidl is coming to Arbor Square in Douglasville?  What is your favorite grocery store?  Where else in metro Atlanta would you like to see Lidl open?

Please share your thoughts below.