Dive Brief:
- Aldi will break ground on a 650,000 square foot distribution center and regional headquarters to serve its rapidly growing presence in Texas' largest city.
- The retailer, which specializes in lower cost, privately labeled groceries, opened its first store in Houston just a year ago. Aldi has 16 stores there now, and plans to have 30 by the end of 2015.
- It's all part of the company's five-year, $3 billion plan to open 650 new stores across the United States.
Dive Insight:
It's safe to say that folks in Texas, and much of the rest of the country, are about to experience an all-new way of buying groceries. There's really nothing much else out there like Aldi -- with its no-shelves, boxes on the floor, minimalist approach to retail.
It's also safe to say that Aldi is part of a trend in which American consumers are getting a look at a new type of grocery -- one quite different from the major brand-name products that dominate the industry now. Aldi, just like its estranged brother, Trader Joe's, is almost entirely a private-label player.