Lidl GB to Invest £1.3 Billion in Store Expansion Over 2021 and 2022
Lidl has opened its 800th store in Great Britain. The milestone comes after the discounter opened 50 new stores in the past 12 months alone, creating over 2,500 new jobs.
The supermarket continues to expand at pace, having opened a total of 16 new stores across January and February, contributing to its target of 1,000 stores by the end of 2023 in Great Britain. The retailer also recently marked the opening of its 10oth store in Scotland and is due to open its 100th store in London this year.
Christian Härtnagel, chief executive of Lidl GB, says: “We’re excited to have reached this milestone, which simply means that we’re bringing affordable, high quality food to even more households across Britain. I’m proud of our fantastic teams, from our colleagues working on the shop floor to our colleagues in the warehouse and across our offices, who have driven our expansion efforts around the country. We’re looking forward to opening our doors to even more communities this year and into this new decade where we see so much potential for further growth.”
As part of its ongoing plans, Lidl has committed to investing £1.3 billion in its store expansion over 2021 and 2022. This follows the bolstering of its logistics capabilities, which included the opening and expansion of six warehouses over the last four years, to continue to support its growing store network.
Lidl’s expansion is matched by continued strong sales growth. The most recent set of Kantar data shows that the supermarket is the fastest-growing supermarket in the UK, with gross sales growing 11.1% year-on-year (12 weeks to 26th January).
Since establishing in Great Britain in 1994, Lidl has experienced continuous growth and today has over 24,500 employees, 800 stores and 13 distribution centres in England, Scotland and Wales. As part of the Schwarz retail group, Lidl is one of Europe’s leading organisations in the food retail industry. With a presence in 32 countries around the world, the supermarket, which has more than 287,000 employees globally, currently operates approximately 10,800 stores and more than 160 distribution centres in 29 countries globally.
