A Lidl too spread out?

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Knight
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Re: A Lidl too spread out?

Post by Knight »

I think Lidl has entered the United States quickly with many stores sparsely located along the Atlantic coast. It needs to view itself in the mirror before increase store count, opening additional distribution centers as needed, and gradually entering new markets.

I think Aldi still has the advantage over Lidl in the limited assortment/discount grocery segment.
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Re: A Lidl too spread out?

Post by bnill »

Comparing the Aldi and Lidl stores I have seen, Lidl definetly has a much nicer looking store in my opinion. From what I heard, Lidl is also selling lots of non-grocery items which may set itself apart from others, maybe a smaller Fred Meyer? Similar to when Kroger opened several Ralphs Marketplace stores in Southern Caifornia which was typically a Fred Meyer of some sort within a Ralphs store, but it didn't sell apparel. It sold along with grocery: hardware, home goods, cleaning supplies etc. Idk if Ralphs Marketplace stores still sell those things or they have since removed them to focus on supermarket type things, I haven't been in a Ralphs in years since I mostly shop at Albertsons or Trader Joes now.

The curved open ceilings in Lidl look cool, it makes the store feel much larger and open that it actually probably is. I'm not sure if this is how they build these stores in Europe, it almost seems as if this design was inspired by the old Safeway Marina style stores with the large curved ceilings. The exterior also reminds me of the Safeway in the Marina district of San Francisco, it literally looks like that store, but the left half was chopped off. Here are links for ya'll to compare the two: https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/news2/ger ... chantilly/ https://www.thrillist.com/entertainment ... -francisco#

Do you think is a way of Lidl to fit into American culture or do they have stores like this in Europe too?
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Re: A Lidl too spread out?

Post by pseudo3d »

Predictably, Lidl's U.S. expansion isn't going nearly as well as they had hoped. They did close a lease on a former Pathmark/ACME that closed recently (source) but I don't think that they're going to use all the space.

I think from quotes from Lidl execs made earlier (especially some wrong assumptions about how shoppers think) show that Lidl doesn't understand the U.S. market as well as it thinks it does, and just being "another Aldi" (at best) isn't especially encouraging to its long-term outlook, especially as Aldi is trying to change and upgrade its store fleet. This article brings up some good (if somewhat obvious) points like focusing on distribution of one area and expanding through it before expanding out, but also muddles that by introducing some more questionable ideas (like partnering with Target).

So what is Lidl's long-term goal for entering the crowded U.S. grocery market? It would probably take at least a decade to gain a solid market share (and that's not going well so far), and trying to chip away at traditional grocery stores has probably already been tapped out. If Lidl really wants an in for the American market, they might be able to go for a grocery chain in the U.S. that has a bunch of distribution centers, a few manufacturing plants, stores in some entrenched markets, but has a somewhat fixer-upper private label plan. It would of course take some money and debt to buy this chain (no points on guessing which one) but it might be cheaper than trying to go all in with Lidl stores. Certainly a questionable move, but if Lidl wants to be market leader....
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Re: A Lidl too spread out?

Post by storewanderer »

I went to a Lidl Store. I was very impressed with the place. It had a ton of shoppers on a weekday mid-morning. The neighborhood the store was in looked to be upper middle class and that seemed to be who was shopping there. They look to be offering late hours open until 10 or 11 PM.

Their ad was like 30 pages or some rather large amount of pages. I've seen ads like this before, and find them cumbersome. Especially for such a small store.

No charge for a shopping cart (they had large and small carts). I didn't see any baskets.

First the bakery, produce, and floral/plant areas were excellent. These were at par with a standard grocer if not better. The bakery is way above par with a standard grocer on mix for individual items as most of it is individual/bulk rather than prepackaged (quality... their products do not seem to be brimming with sugar the way our baked goods in the US usually are, so they are a little different there, but quality seemed to be good once you get past that). Bakery is a bit of a hassle at checkout as every single item has its own PLU. As in, chocolate chip cookies is a different PLU from sugar cookie, every single donut frosting type has its own PLU, etc. Produce in this place looked really good and the mix was also quite good. Floral/plants were way above a standard grocer.

Center store was where it got interesting. It reminded me more of Aldi. But the pricing seemed to be better. I could not believe some of the deals this place had. .28 liters of Seltzer (their brand, but bottled by Polar). Most chips in big bags were between 80 cents and 1.29. Frozen foods, dairy, various other center store all as very attractive price points. Mostly private label items in this place and I'm not sure how the quality is. It is a mix of imported stuff and US stuff just like Aldi.

The general merchandise area appears to be trying a lot of things to see what sticks. I don't think they are as effective with this as Aldi is but they are trying a lot more things...

Checkout had 4 self checkouts (should have more than 4) and then 1-2 lanes with about 6 in line steadily. Bags are charge but I'm not sure how much as I didn't take any.

The physical store, I really liked. I liked the layout, the building, the lighting, the restrooms were clean and well designed. Some of the center store aisles were a challenge to get through when there was a stocking project going on combined with a few customers which is probably my only complaint on the physical store.

I get the impression they are trying to be better than Aldi. Better on fresh product. Nicer looking store. Better store hours. The question is can they do this profitably? I wonder how the quality of their private labels is. Aldi built its format and reputation in the US during an era when private labels were looked at by a lot of customers with a great deal of skepticism. Lidl is lucky in the sense that private labels have a much easier customer acceptance now, than they did 30-40 years ago. But they will still need to offer high quality private label goods to build a positive reputation.

It will be interesting to see how this goes. If I had a Lidl nearby, I'd shop there frequently.

Lidl will need to be careful as it moves away from the Eastern and Southeastern US. The Midwest and Western markets are very different from the East.
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Re: A Lidl too spread out?

Post by BillyGr »

storewanderer wrote: May 11th, 2019, 11:50 pm Bakery is a bit of a hassle at checkout as every single item has its own PLU. As in, chocolate chip cookies is a different PLU from sugar cookie, every single donut frosting type has its own PLU, etc.
I remember reading that one of the donut places did that also (thinking Krispy Kreme probably).

It was done so that they got a better idea of what types sold and when, so they could tailor production accordingly to avoid having too much of one and not enough of another.
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