Retail Watchers

I assume this is their first expansion by acquisition in the U.S.

https://www.supermarketnews.com/retail- ... est-market

That doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It's not particularly a "low-end" market (a bit small, but they go up to 40k square feet, which would be massive for a low-cost, limited-assortment Aldi competitor) and they have nothing to gain by gutting the stores and their features (like pharmacies, prepared foods, etc.). It would only hasten and enlarge the impending catastrophe of Lidl.

If they weren't changing formats and just making the Lidl name way more flexible, it could be seen as a dry run into buying an even bigger company, perhaps one that wouldn't ultimately share the Lidl name.

They want to try their hand at a more densely populated market. It doesn't make much sense, they probably won't be successful, and it probably won't change what will eventually happen to Lidl in the US.

At least they are going about this in a somewhat more careful manner than Tesco did.

storewanderer wrote: ↑November 18th, 2018, 12:45 pm They want to try their hand at a more densely populated market. It doesn't make much sense, they probably won't be successful, and it probably won't change what will eventually happen to Lidl in the US.

At least they are going about this in a somewhat more careful manner than Tesco did.

They should just change the name of the US division to "Frisch und Einfach."

But seriously...I can see where an "upscale" discount food store would succeed in NYC, but not one that has 40K square foot stores. They might do well in Manhattan or Brooklyn, give the dearth of quality, affordable grocery stores. If I was running Lidl I'd research urban centers with dense, walkable, up-and-coming neighborhoods and launch there. That could be Brooklyn or Manhattan, but rents are probably too pricey. Maybe Boston, Chicago (far-flung, but probably the demographic they are going for at a lower rent), Baltimore, DC, or Philly.

Perhaps not that far off, as the article suggests that their first stores were 36,000 Sq. Ft. overall?

But in general, it may just be that they wanted to get into this area and it was the easiest way to do so, rather than trying to find the space to build their own and particularly if they got a good price deal (which is also hard to find in those areas).
They would likely be able to subdivide a section off if the stores are too large for them in many areas where less spaces are available and not have trouble finding someone to fill that space.

BillyGr wrote: ↑November 18th, 2018, 6:15 pm Perhaps not that far off, as the article suggests that their first stores were 36,000 Sq. Ft. overall?

But in general, it may just be that they wanted to get into this area and it was the easiest way to do so, rather than trying to find the space to build their own and particularly if they got a good price deal (which is also hard to find in those areas).
They would likely be able to subdivide a section off if the stores are too large for them in many areas where less spaces are available and not have trouble finding someone to fill that space.

Why though? They already canned plans to move to Texas (even if the locations were spread out), and even if it's a natural extension of their East Coast features, NYC is largely a no-man's land for chain grocers. Question is why did Best Market sell out? They had recently opened new stores.

Lidl acquiring Best Market hams many scratching heads. Converted stores would lose its departments except Bakery and risk becoming unprofitable.

Knight wrote: ↑November 20th, 2018, 8:03 am Lidl acquiring Best Market hams many scratching heads. Converted stores would lose its departments except Bakery and risk becoming unprofitable.

Sounds like they would remain open during all this time, but if they're doing that and keeping employees with benefits/wages, it looks they won't downscale. Maybe Lidl will rethink their plans or do something different. They also say that a Connecticut store won't be included in the sale, so who knows if they want to keep that running independently, close it down, or sell it another third party.