Aldi is eyeing up new large central London sites for the first time and could target properties to be left vacant by Mothercare, Maplin and Poundworld.
According to Property Week, Aldi is planning to open numerous stores across zone 1 for the first time, as well as expanding its presence in zone 2.
Although it’s thought Aldi has no intentions of launching a smaller convenience store format, it will consider store spaces of around 8000sq ft, far smaller than its usual 15,000sq ft average.
It currently has stores on Old Kent Road and in Kilburn, but this marks its first attempt to break into more central areas of the city, and it is thought that the soon-to-be vacant sites of this year’s high-profile retail casualties will be prime targets for the grocer.
“Aldi is definitely interested in both zone one and zone two,” a market source told Property Week.
“But it would not go for a corner-shop-sized store – it is looking for supermarket space.”
This comes after Aldi pledged to remain the cheapest grocer following promises from Asda and Sainsbury’s to reduce the price of essential items by 10 per cent amid a prospective landmark merger.
An Aldi spokesman said: “We will never be beaten on price and are absolutely committed to maintaining the significant price gap between Aldi and our competitors.”
