Lidl will soon have a location in every corner of NYC including the Bronx, giving residents of the northernmost borough another supermarket option.
The well-known German supermarket chain will eventually take over the site that was previously occupied by Michaels arts and crafts store, within the Bronx Terminal Market at 700 Exterior St.
The exterior of the currently vacant Concourse storefront displays the Lidl logo, accompanied by a “coming soon” sign and a slogan that reads “unbelievable quality, unbelievable prices” — a play on creative director and copywriter Ant Jackson’s coined phrase, “Big on quality, Lidl on price.”
The new supermarket will offer “high-quality” produce, choice meats, seafood, imported cheeses and more, as well as home appliances at a discounted price, according to the company’s website. Many Lidl locations also include an in-house bakery providing European pastries.
The grocery store will be located on the third floor of the retail hub, next to Burlington department store and Chuck E. Cheese.
Lidl’s new location within the Bronx Terminal Market will provide residents in the West Bronx with another option to shop for groceries and other home appliances. The Bronx Terminal Market already boasts a long list of big name retailers, including Home Depot, Skechers, BJ’s Wholesale Club, Best Buy, Food Bazaar and Raymour and Flanigan, along with the discount department store Target.
The shopping complex is located just off of the Major Deegan Expressway and within close proximity of the 149 St-Grand Concourse subway station for the 4 train.
According to the company’s website, about 80% of Lidl’s products are private label, meaning that many of the store’s products are under a retail brand name, as opposed to a manufacturer name — creating affordable options.
The Germany-headquartered grocery store chain already has locations in Manhattan (Harlem) and Queens (Astoria) as well as a store in Staten Island, which opened back in 2018.
Neither a timeline nor a completion date have been announced for the Bronx Lidl expansion.
Lidl is also expected to open two more locations in Brooklyn and in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan by 2025 as well as a supermarket in nearby Yonkers, according to The Journal News.
Lidl was founded in Germany in the early 1930s as Lidl & Co., originally as a tropical fruit wholesaler, with their initial modern discount store opening in 1973, according to the company’s website.
The name ‘Lidl’ — pronounced “lee-dle” in German or “lid-le” in English — originates from entrepreneur Josef Schwarz‘s previous business partner, Ludwig Lidl, when Schwarz became a partner in 1932.
In 1977, following the death of his father, Schwarz’s son Dieter did not wish to name the market after his family name, as “Schwarz” in German means “black.” Fearing that people in Germany would interpret the store name as black market, Schwarz decided to use the name of his father’s former business partner — Ludwig “Lidl,” Business Insider reported.
Lidl, currently operating under the Schwarz Group, has just under nearly 12,000 stores in Europe; Germany alone is home to more than 3,000 of them. There are about 170 locations in the U.S. with the first location opening in Virgina in 2017.
Aldi, another German supermarket retailer chain, already has three locations in the borough — in the Allerton, Kingsbridge and Melrose sections of the Bronx.
Last year, Lidl had a revenue of $80.7 million in the U.S., according to Zippia, an online recruitment services listing.
The Bronx Times reached out to Lidl for comment and is awaiting a response. The Bronx Times also contacted Community Board 4, the Bronx Terminal Market and the 161st Street BID for comment and is awaiting their responses.
Reach Steven Goodstein at sgoodstein@schnepsmedia.com or (718) 260-4561. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
