Lidl is to open 40 new stores across the UK in a £500m investment in expansion this year.
The discounter has published its latest ‘wish list’ of store locations across England, Scotland and Wales, from Ellon to Dawlish, and Builth Wells to Aylsham, as well as the London Borough of Barnet.
Almost 250 of the sought-after sites are in London, including upmarket locations such as Knightsbridge, south Kensington and Chelsea.
Lidl is also set to complete the expansion of its Belvedere regional distribution centre this year, more than doubling the size of the facility.
Lidl’s 2025 site requirements brochure outlines locations wanted for new stores including high streets, retail parks, and mixed-use town centre sites.
“This level of investment is a clear sign of our ambition,” said Lidl GB chief real estate officer Richard Taylor.
“As we enter our fourth decade in Great Britain and hurtle towards a thousand stores, there are still so many parts of the country crying out for convenient access to a Lidl store.
“Our latest site requirements brochure reinforces the scale of our ambition for the future. New Lidl stores mean new jobs, new opportunities for British suppliers, and continued investment into local economies. We’re proud to be one of the fastest-growing supermarkets in the country, and with this investment, we’re taking another big step in our journey.”
The announcement signals a major step-up in the UK expansion of Lidl, which currently has over 980 stores and 14 distribution centres in England, Scotland and Wales.
The expansion programme slowed in 2023, from the usual 50 or 60 new stores a year to 25, as parent company Lidl Stiftung faced higher interest rates on debt.
However, in October last year, Lidl sealed a deal to sell 12 stores under construction, which it would then lease back, nearly a year after approaching investors with a funding pitch.
The deal has now begun to pay off, with Lidl recently opening five new stores in a month, in Berwick, Redcar, Hull, Crediton and Manchester.
Lidl has been the fastest-growing bricks & mortar supermarket for 19 months in a row, according to Kantar. Its sales were up 9.1% year on year in the 12 weeks to 23 March, pushing its market share to 7.8%, up from 7.4% a year earlier.
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