Lidl is turning its rapid growth into more stores as five new sites opened across the country today.
The German discounter unveiled new supermarkets in Edinburgh, Stockton, Hull, Polegate and Rosehill, south London, bringing 700 new jobs with them, according to Lidl.
The expansion is part of a £1.45 billion growth project aiming to open 50 new stores by the end of 2018, as demand for Lidl continues. It showed a 16.3 per cent sales increase from this time last year.
The discounter plans to open up 14 more by the end of February as the company continues to balloon. Lidl says that new employees will be paid the Living Wage, which comes into effect in March this year.
Ingo Fischer, Lidl UK board director for expansion and development said: “As the UK’s fastest-growing supermarket, surpassing 700 stores is yet further proof of our ambitious rate of expansion across Britain.
“It’s great that more people than ever before have access to our high quality, fresh and locally sourced products at incredible value, and that as a result, we’re able to create more jobs for local communities up and down the country.”
Lidl’s total store count now stands at 700 across Britain with 22,000 staff, 24 years after it’s first opening in 1994.
Its success has translated into a UK market share of 5 per cent, meaning it will soon overtake Waitrose in popularity.
