Hundreds turn out at new Aldi's grand opening in Stanton area
Jeff Neiburg
Hundreds of shoppers showed up Thursday morning ahead of a ribbon cutting ceremony at Delaware's newest Aldi grocery store in the Stanton-Milltown area.
The discount grocer followed the ceremony with its popular Golden Ticket giveaway offering gift cards to the first 100 customers. Shoppers also sampled Aldi's exclusive brand foods and entered a sweepstakes for a chance to win a year’s supply of produce.
"I'm glad to see them here," said Belinda Thompson, one of the first shoppers in the store. "I will start shopping here every week."
The Stanton-Milltown area store, formerly home to Best Buy, is part of Aldi expansion plans that include $3.4 billion to open about 750 stores in the near future.
Aldi has more than 1,750 stores in 35 states and wants to have 2,500 stores nationwide by 2022, a plan that would add 25,000 new jobs in stores, offices and warehouses, the company said.
The newest location, located at 2205 Farrand Drive is Delaware's third, with stores already open in Camden and Middletown. There is also an Aldi just over the Delaware-Maryland state line in Elkton.
Aldi is best known for its no-frills approach to grocery shopping. Most items – 90 percent, the company says on its website – are sold under Aldi's private label in place of more familiar branding. And some major brand-name products are offered as a "special purchase," meaning reduced price.
Store hours will be from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday. The store will close at 8 p.m. on Sunday.
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Contact reporter Jeff Neiburg at (302) 983-6772, jneiburg@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @Jeff_Neiburg.