Germany's grocery chain Lidl is now the UK’s fastest growing chain, and is heading to the US. Earlier this year Lidl announced to open 281 stores within London alone. It is now preparing to open stores in dozens of cities across the American East Coast, spanning from New Jersey to Georgia. Lidl wouldn't reveal how many stores it's planning to open, but there is speculations that around 150 US stores will open by 2018.
The company currently has 10,000 stores in 26 European countries. Lidl’s biggest rival in the US will be the supermarket chain Aldi, which now has more than 1,300 stores in the country, with plans to open another 600 within the next couple years.
In the most recent quarter, Lidl’s sales increased by 13.8%, according to data from Kantar Worldpanel.
In 2015, Lidl UK expansions has awarded them the prestigious title of “Grocer of the Year”, leading the way for British supermarkets by being the first to introduce The Living Wage and hit a record market share of 4.3%.
