Aldi is buying 400 grocery stores in Florida and the southeast as it continues its rapid US expansion

• Aldi is buying 397 supermarkets across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
• Some will stay as Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket stores while others will be converted to Aldis.

Aldi is buying 397 supermarkets across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi as it expands its US retail empire.

The German discount retailer said on Wednesday that it was buying all of Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket's locations from parent company Southeastern Grocers for an undisclosed price.

Some of the stores will be converted to Aldis, while others will continue to operate as Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket stores, Aldi CEO Jason Hart said in a statement.

The majority of the stores being acquired – 299 – are in Florida. The deal also includes 39 in Alabama, 28 in Louisiana, 25 in Georgia, and six in Mississippi.

Aldi has previously announced plans to have 2,400 stores across the US by the end of 2023. Walmart, in comparison, has more than 4,500 stores in the US while Kroger has more than 2,700.

Aldi was the fastest-growing grocer in the US in 2022 for the fourth year running despite opening less than 60% of the stores it had planned to open that year, according to a report by real-estate company JLL. Aldi has more than 50,000 employees across the US.

Aldi operates with strict cost-cutting measures. It sticks largely to private-label products, meaning it can keep prices low by ordering in bulk and spending less on marketing and packaging. It also sells products straight from the shipping pallets they're delivered in, keeps its stores compact to maximize efficiency, makes customers pack their own bags, and avoids what it deems unnecessary services like banking and pharmacies.

It also sells a varied range of time-limited products, creating a "treasure hunt" for shoppers. The items can range from food, housewares, clothes, and seasonal items to gardening equipment, electronics, and pet accessories, and encourage shoppers to visit regularly to see which new bargains are in store.

This approached has enabled Aldi to win over swathes of deal-hunting customers, with popular TikTok and Instagram accounts sharing the latest finds at its stores.

Aldi said that its purchase of Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarket was expected to close in the first half of 2024. CNN reported that Southeastern Grocers is selling the 28 stores it owns under its third brand, Fresco y Más, to grocery-investment group Fresco Retail Group.