That is true - in fact one of the older Aldi's here locally is in what was once an A&P built into a strip center (and this is an area where A&P closed most of their stores way back in the 1980's rounds of closures).mbz321 wrote:pseudo3d wrote: But I wouldn't count on the vacant space...Aldi tends to ALWAYS build new buildings, and the one example that they didn't build a new structure they did extensive interior work on it that only the columns survived (they tore out the flooring completely, I remember peeking in and six inches of the concrete foundation had been removed to dirt).
Maybe in other regions they always build new, but in the Northeast, I've seen them take over (or partially take over) smaller former grocery stores smack in the middle of shopping centers, a former Eckerd/Rite Aid or two, and a whole bunch of Bottom Dollar Food stores when they bought them out a few years ago (pretty much gutting them too, despite only operating a few years as Bottom Dollar), but still stores that were older and mostly in strip centers.
On the other hand, the most recently opened ones are newly built buildings, but I don't know if that is just because they didn't want to use an existing site, or if there simply was no such existing building available in the areas they were looking at.