Aldi has opened its 700th store and a new £60 million distribution hub in Cardiff as it continues its expansion across the UK.
Total investment in UK stores and supply chain over the last five years is now £1.7 billion and the retailer has pledged to open a store in every major British town and city.
Its 700th store opened in Whitstable, Kent, and the company said it hopes to open 1,000 UK stores by 2022. The new store is one of more than 100 Aldi stores in the south east, including more than 30 inside the M25.
The Cardiff distribution centre becomes fully operational next month and is set to create 400 jobs. It is Aldi’s ninth distribution centre, measuring 46,000 m2 and due to serve stores in Wales and the south west.
Aldi UK and Ireland CEO Matthew Barnes said: “During the last five years we have invested £1.7bn in new stores and distribution centres to bring Aldi to the 14m customers that now regularly shop with us.
“But there are many more potential customers who don’t shop at Aldi because there isn’t a store near where they live. We want to change this by having a store in every major town and city across Britain.”
Aldi is also investing £150m to increase capacity in the north of England and Scotland by enlarging existing distribution centres in Darlington and Bathgate.
Barnes added: “We remain committed to meeting the strong demand across the country for new stores and will continue to invest in our operations so that we can introduce millions of new customers to Aldi’s great products and low prices.”
During the last quarter, Aldi attracted 826,000 more shoppers compared to the same period last year and recently overtook the Co-op to become the UK’s fifth-largest supermarket, according to Kantar figures.
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