If you’ve noticed a lot of heavy equipment, noise and activity on Pawnee Street behind Walgreen’s, there is a reason. Aldi is building something across the street from its current store.
It really shouldn’t be a surprise to long-time Aldi shoppers as two years ago rumors had it that the company was planning to remodel the store on Pawnee. But that is not the case. The plan now is to build a completely new store, and construction has started.
Completion is expected this fall. Currently, site preparation is underway, and the site itself is fenced off.
A company spokesman said that the new store will be approximately 12,000 square feet of retail space, “making it easier to navigate than traditional grocery stores”. It follows the Aldi mantra: “Get In, Get Out and Get Home.”
The idea is to make the new store easier and faster for shoppers to find and buy what they need and do so more quickly than larger, more traditional grocery stores.
“The new Clinton store will provide an improved layout and ample refrigeration to accommodate and expand the fresh and convenient food selection,” said Skyler Jones, Olathe Division vice president.
The design of the new store is similar to the latest Aldi additions. It will feature open ceilings and natural lighting. The emphasis in construction is to use environmentally friendly materials.
The design will feature a new layout and a streamlined design to make shopping easier. Parking will be easier, too, as the new parking lot will have 95 spaces and should be able to handle boat trailers and RVs.
Aldi’s history dates back to 1913 when Anna Albrecht started a grocery store in the town of Essen in western Germany. In 1945, her two sons took over the store and started to expand, opening another retail outlet nearby. By 1950, the brothers owned 13 stores in Germany. Ten years later, the chain had 300 stores in the country.
However, the brothers had a disagreement about whether or not the chain should sell cigarettes, and they decided to split Aldi into northern and southern companies. Both use the name Aldi, a syllabic abbreviation for Albrecht Diskont; it was introduced in 1962.
International expansion for both the northern and southern companies started in 1967, and Aldi Sud’s, territory including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and China. Aldi Nord bought the Trader Joe’s chain and runs it in the US.
Currently, the two companies have over 13,000 stores globally. In the US, Aldi Sud has close to 2,400 outlets.
In early March of this year, Aldi Sud closed a deal to buy the Winn-Dixie and Harvey grocery chains and announced plans to open 800 new stores by 2028.
