Lidl Balances Store Openings, Closings

German-based grocer Lidl is focusing on store performance and potential with a round of store openings and closings, including some in the same market.

While Lidl welcomed shoppers to a new location at 3005 Martinsville Road in Greensboro, N.C., on June 28, the company is shutting down another store in that area. The store at 1147 Randolph Street in nearby Thomasville will cease operations on July 16.

[Read more: “Lidl Unveils 2 East Coast Stores”]

“This was an underperforming location, and we made the strategic decision to close this location so we can focus on the locations that are closer and more convenient to more of our customers and where we are seeing significant growth,” said Chandler Spivey, Lidl’s U.S. senior manager of communications. “We appreciate the contributions team members in Thomasville have made and are offering all employees a position at another Lidl store in the area.”

Likewise, much as it hones in on prices to give customers the best deal, Lidl is drilling down on its own value equation in New Jersey. A store in Howell, N.J., will soon shut its doors after only three years in business, but the grocer is building a new 30,725-square-foot site in nearby Freehold, N.J. that is expected to open in mid-2024.  

In South Carolina, meanwhile, a Lidl at 417 E. Martintown Road in North Augusta will be shuttered later this month. In a similar statement, Spivey shared that underperformance led to the closing as the company has conducted a throughout assessment of stores in its network. Just four miles away, another Lidl location currently serves customers in the town of Augusta, Ga.

Customers in Virginia are also losing a Lidl, as the retail outpost in Albermarle County will close on July 16. That store opened nearly two years ago to the date, on July 14, 2021.

Aiming for better performance in the District of Columbia, Lidl recently opened a store in that market. The grocer runs its U.S. operations from a headquarters office in nearby Arlington, Va.  

Neckarsulm, Germany-based Lidl operates around 11,550 stores and is active in 32 countries, employing more than 341,000 employees globally. The grocer runs about 170 stores in the U.S.  Lidl US is No. 91 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2023 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.