Aldi delays new NC location in the Triangle. What we know about discount grocer’s plans
The story was updated at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 7, 2024.
Aldi has pushed back its opening date for a new store in Hillsborough to March, according to a company official.
The parking lot was tidy, the shelves were installed and lights were on inside the coolers in early February at the new store on N.C. 86, across the highway from Hillsborough’s Walmart and Home Depot stores. A fire sprinkler service truck was parked outside.
However, the shelves were still bare. The grand opening is now planned for March, Salisbury Division Vice President Krysta Cearley said,despite previous reports online that a February opening was possible.
The German grocer with a cult following is known for rock-bottom prices and specialty home goods and food items like cheese and wine. It keeps prices low by offering limited checkouts, self-bagging, and grocery carts that can be “rented” for a quarter, encouraging shoppers to return them to the corral.
Details were posted on Aldi’s website in January about the new Hillsborough store, which has been under construction since last year on 2.6 acres at 2010 N.C. 86 South.
Aldi’s website does not show an opening date for the new store, but a “Get Directions” link connected shoppers to a Google map that said the store would open Feb. 14. Online ads for job openings have been posted for a few months.
“We plan to hold a Grand Opening Ceremony to welcome the Hillsborough community to the new store,” Cearly said in a previous email. “More details on the ceremony will become available as the opening date approaches.”
She noted that a typical store is about 12,000 square feet of retail space, although the Hillsborough location was approved in 2021 for roughly 19,200 square feet and 96 parking spaces. The additional space is for backroom storage, an Aldi spokesperson said.
Customers can stay up to date on the latest releases at Aldi’s Grand Openings page.
This will be Aldi’s second location in Orange County. The first store opened in 2022 at Eastgate Crossing shopping center on East Franklin Street in Chapel Hill.
More development, roadwork to come
The new store will share the southeastern corner of the N.C. 86 and Interstate 85 interchange with a Sheetz gas station and the newly relocated Hillsborough Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram dealership, which opened in early January. The Hillsborough CDJR showroom doubles the space the dealership had in a previous location on South Churton Street.
Landowner Paliouras Enterprises LLC has a master plan for the 25-acre site that was approved in 2019, when the Hillsborough Town Board also annexed the site and zoned it for future commercial development.
Developer James Paliouras has told The N&O in previous interviews that the site has had interest from possible tenants and could add more retail, restaurants and a hotel in the future. The master plan shows seven retail lots, including the dealership, and an additional, eight-acre lot designated for a hotel and stores.
More traffic in an area that already is congested and constrained by the two-lane bridge over I-85, could challenge additional development.
The N.C. Department of Transportation plans to widen Interstate 85 to six lanes and build a new N.C. 86 interchange and bridge at I-85. A June NCDOT report showed the interchange updates could happen by 2028 and the I-85 widening project could begin by 2040.
This story was originally published January 18, 2024 at 5:30 AM.
