Discount grocer Aldi will make its Delaware debut Thursday – not once, but twice.
The German-based supermarket chain is set to open new stores in Middletown and Camden simultaneously with public ribbon cuttings planned for 8:45 a.m.
The first 100 shoppers at each store will be rewarded for their commitment with golden tickets, each containing an Aldi gift card of varying amounts up to $100. Customers also will be able to enter a sweepstake for a year's supply of Aldi produce.
The supermarket's new locations in southern New Castle and central Kent counties are the chain's first in Delaware. Aldi currently operates nearly 1,600 stores in 34 states, including a store off U.S. 40, just over the state line in Elkton, Maryland.
"We are pleased to bring our first stores to Delaware to help customers get high-quality products at everyday low prices," Aldi vice president Bob Grammer said in a release.
Aldi will offer a different grocery store experience for many Delaware shoppers.
The chain is perhaps best known for its no-frills approach, which includes selling its own private-label brand in place of familiar products such as Jiffy, Betty Crocker or Nabisco. Some major brand-name products are offered as a "special purchase," meaning reduced price. Aldi-brand products, meanwhile, are typically priced about 30- to 50-percent less than their better-known competitors.
As a result, stores do not accept manufacturers' coupons. Aldi also encourages customers to bring their own bags or face a 6-cent charge for paper and 10-cent charge plastic to use theirs. Customers also are expected to bag up their own groceries. Grocery carts, meanwhile, are only accessible by paying a 25 cent deposit, returned to the customer at the end of their shopping trip.
Aldi sells meat, dairy and perishable goods like most grocery stores, but has no deli or bakery departments. And while most grocery store chains are adopting a bigger-is-better approach, Aldi stores are relatively compact – a feature company officials say makes the markets simpler to navigate.
The Middletown store at 1002 Bunker Hill Road – better known as the southwest corner of Bunker Hill Road and U.S. 301 – and the Camden store in the Camden Town Center shopping center at 390 Walmart Drive are both slightly less than 18,000 square feet. By comparison, about 10 of those Aldis could fit inside the Walmarts near each location. The limited space means Aldi's product lines tends to be focused on basic, weekly staples.
While the chain does not to compete on variety, it has been staking a claim in the growing healthier food market. That includes more organic meat and produce, more gluten-free products and other items made without pesticides or additives, such as synthetic colors, partially hydrogenated oils and added MSG.
Each of the stores will employ about 20 workers. Company officials declined to discuss starting pay, expected to say Aldi has "a strong track record of paying our employees market-leading wages." Staff working at least 25 hours per week also will receive health insurance benefits and dental converage, while all employees are allowed to particiate in a 401(k) retirement savings plan.
But Aldi won't be the only German-based supermarket chain in Delaware for long.
Lidl is working aggressively to follow its chief European competitor into the U.S. market, with plans to open its first 150 stores on this side of the Atlantic by 2018. That no-frills discount grocery chain recently opened its U.S. headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, and announced plans this summer to establish a $100 million regional headquarters and distribution center in Perryville, Maryland.
"Right now, we are early along in our U.S. expansion and have not yet set individual opening dates for any Lidl U.S. stores," Lidl spokesman Will Harwood said Monday. "However, I can tell you that we are actively preparing a number of sites in the area as we expand."
Lidl already has started construction on a 36,000-square-foot store next to the new Grotto Pizza off U.S. 301 in Middletown. Earlier this year, the chain also won conditional approval from Dover's planning commission to build a new store off U.S. 13 and is under contract to purchase a 17.5-acre property in Ogletown that is now home to Vince's Sports Center.
The race between Aldi and Lidl to expand across the country could spell trouble for a U.S. grocery store market beset by contraction and consolidation in recent years. The two chains have rapidly spread across Great Britain since 2012, forcing major supermarket chains to slash prices – and profits – in an effort to keep up.
"We challenge shoppers to switch from national brands to our high-quality, exclusive brands and stretch their dollars without compromising quality," Aldi's Grammer said. "As important as price is, the only way to attract and keep shoppers is to have quality products."