Discount grocer Aldi, with about 20 stores in the D.C. region and at least four more openings announced for this year, is on track to become the nation’s third-largest grocery store chain, behind Kroger and Walmart.
The German company said it will open 150 new stores across the U.S. this year, expanding to new markets in the process.
This week, Aldi will open a store in Lafayette, Louisiana, its first in that state. Louisiana will be the 38th state in which Aldi has a presence. It will open 20 new stores throughout the Southeast this year.
To support that growth, Aldi will open a 564,000-square-foot regional distribution center in Loxley, Alabama, later this year.
Aldi already has more than 2,100 stores in the U.S.
Earlier this month, Aldi signed a lease for a 22,000-square-foot store at the Tantallon Shopping Center in Fort Washington, Maryland. In December, it opened its newest D.C.-area store in Haymarket, Virginia.
Others planned for the D.C. area include North Bethesda and Capitol Heights. It also signed a lease to replace a former Shoppers Food Warehouse at White Flint Plaza.
