Lidl has arrived. The international grocery retailer with more than 10,000 locations across Europe opened its first U.S. stores last week. Lidl’s expansion goals are lofty: open 100 U.S. stores by the end of 2017, followed by 100 additional stores per year over the next four years.
Today, 20 stores are under construction across the East Coast, and nine locations in North and South Carolina began serving residents last week. Among these is Lidl’s Winston-Salem, N.C., store, which was built by EMJ’s Chattanooga team. EMJ is also building four additional stores, with more to break ground soon.
Lidl prides itself on offering high quality, fresh products at low prices and its slogan, “rethink grocery,” invites customers to enjoy local food without compromising on budget. The company has announced plans to offer 20 percent lower prices than other U.S.-based stores, giving competitors like Walmart and Aldi a run for their money.
“We are excited to be part of Lidl’s progressive expansion into the U.S.” said Clint Dean, Executive Vice President of EMJ’s Chattanooga office, which is spearheading Lidl’s construction projects.
EMJ played a similar role several decades ago, managing the construction for Food Lion’s expansion in the early 1990s. The partnership included constructing over 8 million square feet of grocery stores, warehouse and distribution centers for the company over many years. More recently, our team has also performed work for Kroger, Tom Thumb, Whole Foods and Walmart.
Congrats to the Lidl team in Winston-Salem on a job well done!
Steve Dowis, Superintendent
Shane Haynes, Superintendent
Steve Totzke, Project Manager
Ben Caulder, Level 1 Superintendent
Ryan Colbert, Project Engineer
Jonathon Woolsey, Project Engineer
Brad Primus, Preconstruction Manager
Alex Miller, Director of Preconstruction
Gary Gibson, Director of Construction
James Tyson, Senior Vice President of Preconstruction
Michelle Parker, Shop Drawing Expediter
Cissy Scott, Contract Expediter
Michele Cheresnick, Staff Accountant
Learn more about EMJ’s grocery construction experience here.