- German grocer Lidl opened its first US stores in 2017.
- It closed 11 underperforming stores this week, according to various news reports.
German grocer Lidl entered the US in 2017 with promises to bring deeply discounted goods to 600 stores in the US. But, the chain, whose biggest international rival is Aldi, seems to be closing more stores than it is opening.
Lidl, whose US headquarters are in Virginia, closed 11 stores recently in North Carolina, Virginia, New Jersey, South Carolina, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, the Daily Mail first reported.
"After a thorough review of the performance of our store network, we made the difficult decision to close a small number of stores on July 16," spokeswoman Chandler Spivey said. "These were underperforming locations, and we made the strategic decision to close these stores so we can focus on the locations that are closer and more convenient to more of our customers and where we are seeing significant growth."
Lidl has roughly 170 stores in the US and over 12,000 stores worldwide. Spivey said Lidl continues to add more stores in the East Coast.
"We opened three stores in North Carolina and Washington, D.C., last month and will be opening a new store in Lorton, Virginia, next week," she said.
The closures come after Lidl laid off roughly 200 corporate workers in the US earlier this year. The company told Grocery Business, at the time, that the chain is still "committed to the long-term success of Lidl US and look forward to continuing our expansion along the East Coast."
In March, retail analyst Sebastian Rennack told trade publication Grocery Dive that Lidl is struggling in the US because it doesn't have good brand recognition.
"Lidl works in Germany and in Europe because they have a brand halo. They basically don't have to say much," Rennack said. "What I see in the US is geographical penetration is low, the locations are not necessarily well chosen for an American customer, and nobody knows them."
According to Grocery Business, here are the locations of the 11 recently closed Lidl locations.
Maryland
6111 Livingston Road; Oxon Hill
5722 Ritchie Highway; Brooklyn Park
New Jersey
4250 US-9; Howell Township
1801 Mt. Holly Road; Burlington Township
North Carolina
2741 Highway 55; Cary
1147 Randolph St.; Thomasville
Pennsylvania
125 W. Dekalb Pike; King of Prussia
South Carolina
417 E. Marintown Road; North Augusta
2205 W. Palmetto St.; Florence
Virginia
750 Twentyninth Place Ct.; Charlottesville
12151 W. Broad St.; Richmond