Garner is getting its first Lidl grocery store. Here’s what we know so far
The former Kroger building off U.S. 70 in Garner will soon get new life as a Lidl grocery store.
Construction is still underway at the site, which housed a Kroger until it closed in August 2018.
Building permits filed with the town of Garner show the owner of the 2680 Timber Drive property as Brixmor Property Group. Brixmor added Lidl to its portfolio earlier this year, opening a store in Glassburg, New Jersey, in March.
A large yellow sign on the fence surrounding the store reads “LIDL: See you soon!” with the Brixmor name in the corner.
Brixmor owns and operates about 400 retail centers across the country, with a corporate headquarters in New York. The Garner permits are out of a Brixmor office in Roswell, Georgia.
We contacted both Lidl and Brixmor requesting more details about the new store and will update this report with any additional information.
Lidl in the Triangle
The Germany-based grocery chain opened a store in Apex earlier this year, its 10th location in central North Carolina. The chain has stores in Raleigh, Cary, Wake Forest, Sanford, Rocky Mount, Fayetteville and Wilson, as well as in the western part of the state, but has yet to venture into Durham or Chapel Hill.
Lidl is similar in concept to ALDI, another German grocery chain, which has at least 13 stores in the Triangle. Lidl and ALDI stores are smaller than most U.S. chain grocery stores, such as Harris Teeter, Publix, Food Lion and Wegmans, and they sell a large selection of private-label goods.
Lidl differs a bit from ALDI, in that Lidl stores have an in-house bakery. They also sell fresh flowers and European specialty items.
ALDI has a location in Garner at 750 Timber Drive.
A 2020 study of grocery prices in the Long Island, New York, area, conducted by a professor at UNC’s Kenan Flagler Business School, found that Lidl had prices on par with ALDI, Costco and Walmart, and that Lidl had prices 45% lower than Trader Joe’s, 18.5% lower than Target and 10% lower than BJ’s Wholesale Club.
The study also found that Lidl’s entry into the Long Island grocery market prompted other grocery retailers to decrease their prices “considerably,” compared to prices before Lidl opened there. A similar study conducted in 2018 showed that the presence of Lidl stores had the same effect on grocery prices across the U.S.
