Aldi to go into a multi-story mixed use development in Fairfax County
Somehow I missed this when it was first reported in the Washington Business Journal ("Aldi will anchor South Alex development in Fairfax County"). That's a big deal because up until this announcement, I believe all of their stores in the DC market have been traditional one story parking fronted stores, either as part of shopping centers or company-owned exclusive sites.
Although in the Minneapolis market, Aldi has already developed similar mixed use site stores in the city and the suburbs.
posted by Richard Layman @ 6:57 PM&Permanent Link
5 Comments:
Grocery chains seem to be warming up to this format. Mixed use project with a Wegmans was recently approved in Alexandria near Eisenhower Metro area.
Well, what's interesting is that traditional stores have warmed up to it for awhile, but Aldi hadn't. E.g., they have a store in DC that could have been a mixed use development but isn't.
Now they are changing. I had been watching what they were doing in Minneapolis for awhile, because it was such an outlier for them.
So I can see that DC site being redeveloped eventually.
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And about Aldi generally, they are not taking the entry of Lidl into the US lying down. Probably the Lidl incursion won't succeed because Aldi is responding so forcefully (e.g., Aldi's private label nonstandard products have improved significantly over the past 18 months, even their tortillas!).
Actually, your point is especially apt, but as it relates to suburban settings. This was pretty rare in the suburbs, not so much in the cities, except in denser conurbations, like Wheaton (Safeway) or White Flint (Harris Teeter, Whole Foods), Potomac Yards/Arlington (Harris Teeter) etc.
But now it's "taking off" even more.
Aldi went into the recently-completed Centrum Bucktown development in Chicago. Not only is this a large mixed-use development, but it replaced a previous standalone Aldi store. Customers were directed to other nearby Aldi stores during the construction period.
The new development does include a parking lot for customers, but it's tucked behind the building and (for grocery stores) is relatively small.
Thanks for letting me know. I'll track it down.
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