ALDI to open in Coralwood Center
One of the world’s fastest-growing businesses is about to open another Cape Coral location in space another expanding grocery chain once announced it would go.
ALDI, the German-based grocery chain that has been growing rapidly in Southwest Florida, will open in a 22,000-square-foot spot at Coralwood Center at 2301 Del Prado Blvd.
“We are excited to confirm that West Cape Coral will be home to a new ALDI store in late fall 2019. At this time, it is too early to confirm any other details,” said Chris Hewitt, Royal Palm Beach division vice president for ALDI, in an e-mail.
The news was broken by Ricardo Noguera, city of Cape Coral Economic Development manager, during last week’s CCCIA meeting.
The Coralwood location was once a K-Mart and was slated to become a Fresh Market, which had started redesigning the location in 2017 before deciding against the move.
Hewitt said when Fresh Market backed out, it provided a great opportunity for ALDI.
“We want the best sites that are closest to our shoppers and can support a high daily traffic volume. As the demand for ALDI grows, so do our real estate options. Bottom line, we want to be conveniently located for our shoppers,” Hewitt said.
There will be five aisles and 13,000 square feet of retail shopping space, Hewitt said, for this, the second — or third — ALDI location in Cape Coral and the sixth in Lee County.
Additionally, there will be approximately 4,500 square feet of retail space available for sublet adjacent to the store, Hewitt said, adding that each store has between 15 and 20 employees.
The first area ALDI opened almost two years ago on Pine Island Road.
There is another Cape Coral store in progress. ALDI broke ground early this year on the other side of town, also on Pine Island Road, on the corner of Chiquita Boulevard.
Both of the two new Cape ALDI’s are expected to open late fall of this year.
“Everyone needs high-quality food and products at affordable prices. Clearly, location is crucial to our expansion and we look at a variety of factors. We are opening and remodeling ALDI stores in every type of neighborhood across the country,” Hewitt said.
ALDI has nearly 1,900 stores in 35 states and more than 10,000 stores worldwide in 25 countries. Much of what it sells is own-brand products. Food products are free of added MSG, certified synthetic colors and partially hydrogenated oils, and more than 90 percent of the products available are ALDI exclusive brands, according to its website.
ALDI also encourages customers to bring their own shopping bags and charges a refundable 25 cents for use and return of its carts.