Our story about the Bear Lidl opening, which had been delayed for three years, remains on our "most read" list a couple of months after signs indicated activity at the site. It was recently announced the store will open on July 11.
It turns out that the store off Route 40 was not the only one mothballed.
Robert Dyer, who has a Blogspot site, reported a similar situation off the Beltway in Bethesda, MD. He recently reported that work has resumed at the location. Like the Bear location, the store was poised for opening.
The reasons for the delays in Delaware remain unclear. As noted earlier, Drainage and COVID were issues at the low-lying Bear site, known for ponding, when it was the location of a garden center; however, the county stated that it never prevented the store's opening.
Both delays appear to be primarily the result of shake-ups arising from the German company's bumpy rollout in the U.S. Lidl has 12,000 stores worldwide.
According to one account, Lidl has gone through five U.S. CEOs in the past decade, most of whom came from its European operations. There was also a layoff of 200 corporate staff. That's a significant headcount for a company with about 180 stores.
Since then, several underperforming stores have been closed, and the company has overhauled its marketing efforts to promote discounted pricing, its loyalty program, private-label meat, and baked goods.
Carving out a niche won't be easy. The Bear store is located in an area with a surplus of square footage devoted to supermarkets.
Across the highway is Food Lion, which is owned by the Netherlands-based Ahold Delhaize and typically offers prices lower than those of neighboring stores in Bear-Glasgow - Acme, Safeway, ShopRite, and Giant. Giant, by the way, is also owned by Ahold Delhaize, but it has a similar pricing strategy to Acme-Safeway-Shoprite.
At the same time, inflation has squeezed budgets, and shoppers are looking for alternatives.
In the region, its biggest rival is Germany-based Aldi. Both chains are long-time rivals with Aldi arriving in the U.S. decades before Lidl. Aldi is aggressively expanding in the U.S. and now has a dozen stores in the state of Delaware. Two of those stores in Christiana and Elkton, MD, are within a short drive of Bear-Glasgow.
With the opening of the Bear location, Lidl will have three locations in the First State. - Doug Rainey, chief content officer.
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