Discount grocery store Aldi opens in Woodbury
The new Woodbury Aldi held a ribbon cutting at 8:45 a.m. Friday. By 9 a.m., customers who were already lined up at the door were filling the store.By: Riham Feshir, Woodbury Bulletin
- Fresh produce
- Aldi
The new Woodbury Aldi held a ribbon cutting at 8:45 a.m. Friday.
By 9 a.m., customers who were already lined up at the door were filling the store.
The discount grocery store is now open at the corner of Radio Drive and Tamarack Road.
Some loyal Aldi shoppers lined up outside said they were glad they would no longer have to travel outside Woodbury to shop at their favorite grocery store.
Sharon Wallace of Woodbury said when she found out an Aldi was opening in Woodbury, she had to go take advantage of the low prices.
“The produce,” she said. “You can’t beat the produce.”
Division Vice President Matt Lilla said the company is able to keep prices at 25 to 50 percent less than the competition because it produces its own brands.
He added that the cart system that requires customers to pay to rent a cart while shopping helps offset some of the payroll and operation costs.
Lilla said the 1,700 square feet of space will house 1,400 products that are 90 percent or more exclusive Aldi brands.
“That’s something that is really giving us the ability to keep the prices as low as we do,” he said, adding that there are no hidden costs.
Pre-packaged baked goods, nonperishable food items, fresh produce and meats were neatly stacked and arranged Friday when the store held its grand opening.
The company did a zip code survey to find out where customers at other Aldi locations in neighboring cities were from and found a number of Woodbury residents were visiting other stores.
“Ultimately we want to be conveniently located where our customers and shoppers are located,” Lilla said. “Woodbury was the market that we were not in but we were seeing quite a few customers traveling from.”
Aldi came to the Twin Cities in 2003 when the first store opened in Inver Grove Heights.
The company added 29 stores in Minnesota over the past few years with plans to open more stores in the region.
There are more than 1,200 stores nationwide, and each Aldi store employs between 10 to 20 employees depending on sales volume, Lilla said.
The Woodbury location, formerly occupied by Borders, is located across the street from the second hand store and donation center Savers. It is also kiddie-corner from the major grocery store Cub Foods.
Aldi will be open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays.
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