Aldi Growing U.S. Base

Aldi Einkauf GmbH & Compagnie, oHG, the German discount grocer with more than 9000 stores, is reportedly about to expand its U.S. base.

According to The Des Moines Register, where Aldi has three stores (26 in all of Iowa), the retailer is looking to add up to 80 stores per year in the U.S., including expanding for the first time into California.

Aldi, which began in 1961, first entered the U.S. market in Iowa, in 1976, in Burlington. It currently ranks 19th among all food retailers with U.S. locations, with $7.2 billion in U.S. sales. It currently operates in 32 states.

It is also expanding its target customer. “Twenty years ago, Aldi’s target areas were lower-income neighborhoods,” Matt Lilla, divisional vp in Aldi’s Faribault, Minn., office, told the newspaper. “At this point, there is no specific income target.”

Aldi Nord, one of two organizational divisions in the company, also operates the Trader Joe’s chain.