Newsday – October 6, 2021
Aldi’s "aggressive expansion plan" across the United States will include the opening of its ninth Long Island grocery store this month, the German discount retailer said.
The new store, opening Oct. 21 at 855 Montauk Hwy. in Shirley, will be among the 100 new Aldi stores opening in the United States in 2021, the retailer said in a statement Monday.
"Aldi is one of America’s fastest-growing retailers because we offer a convenient shopping experience for affordable, on-trend and sustainable goods," Chris Daniels, the grocer’s South Windsor regional vice president, said in the statement.
Aldi has leased 23,000 square feet of space in Shirley, in the Floyd Harbor Retail Center, which is owned by the Damianos Realty Group, said X. Cristofer Damianos, a principal at the Smithtown-based commercial real estate company.
Aldi is considered a limited-assortment grocer, like Trader Joe's and Lidl, which means its stores typically are smaller than traditional supermarkets, lack full-service meat and deli departments, and have a high percentage of private-label brands.
More than 90% of the products in Aldi’s stores are its own private-label brands.
Operating more than 2,100 stores in 37 states, Aldi is on track to become the third-largest U.S. grocery retailer by store count by the end of 2022, the retailer said.
The claim is confirmed by Jon Hauptman, senior director of Inmar Intelligence, a retail industry analytics company in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
The top grocery chains in the United States by store count are Walmart, which has 3,570 supercenters; Kroger, which has 2,742 stores; and Albertsons, with 2,278 stores, he said. Aldi currently ranks fourth.
The Aldi in Shirley will continue the retailer’s local expansion push.
Since entering the Long Island market in 2011, Aldi has opened eight local stores, including two last year: one in Green Acres Commons in Valley Stream – the grocer's first in Nassau County – and one in North Babylon Plaza.
The chain also is planning to open a store in part of a former Kmart space in Sayville Plaza on Sunrise Highway in Bohemia.
The Floyd Harbor Retail Center in Shirley was built in 2007.
The three-building, 64,000-square-foot shopping center has never had a grocery store but its location makes it an attractive property, Damianos said.
"It’s probably one of the best locations down there. Right on the intersection of William Floyd [Parkway] and Montauk Highway and … close to a lot of housing. [It has] multiple access points, traffic lights, visibility, all excellent," he said.
Other tenants in Floyd Harbor Retail Center are an AT&T Store and Applebee’s restaurant.
Also, Northwell Health has leased about 9,000 square feet in the shopping center for a planned facility, Damianos said.
The health facility will be a multi-specialty practice whose services will include internal and family medicine, orthopedics, cardiology, urology and vascular surgery, said Jason Molinet, spokesman for Northwell, the state’s largest health care system.
The facility will employ about 40 people and is expected to open in the second quarter of 2022, he said.
By Tory Parrish