Much like every Londoner has a favourite Tube line that they would run through brick walls for, we all have our number one supermarket.
Fighting off the Sunday scaries with a house trip to your local big <insert supermarket name here> is a weekly ritual for Londoners, filling their trolleys with Viennetta ice cream, hummus, smoothies, or whatever else to see you through into the the next week.
Soon, your nearest haven for that essential pit stop could be in ALDI, if it isn’t already, with the supermarket planning to open up at least 60 new stores in London. And, you can rest assured that they will be ‘Big ALDIs’.
Plans state that the supermarket hope to open 20 square foot stores with 100 parking spaces, meaning over 2,400 new jobs at ALDI will be created from these new sites.
Currently, there are 990 ALDI sites in the UK, employing around 40,000 people. New locations are also being planned across the UK, with Huddersfield and Shrewsbury branches opening within the next month. The store hopes it can create a total of 6,000 new jobs with the new sites planned in London and across the UK.
Previously, it had been viewed that there weren’t as many ALDIs in the capital due to a lack of appropriate spaces, despite the German-owned brand being the fourth biggest chain of its kind in the country.
They’re still on the lookout for new spaces, and have released a tasty finders fee offer of 1.5% of a freehold price or 10% of the first year’s rent to those who know of a location that may be suitable to create a new supermarket.
Speaking about the new plans for the store, Ben Shotter, regional manager at ALDI, said: “We strongly believe that access to affordable, high-quality food is a right, not a privilege. But we’re conscious that there are still many areas, particularly in the capital and within the M25, that don’t have access to an Aldi.
“As a result, too many people have to make do with big prices at the big supermarkets. We want to give more people a new Aldi store with our award-winning products with unbeatable prices. We are looking for locations across the UK, but particularly in London.”