No-frills discounter Aldi shocked the grocery sector last month when it announced it had acquired 400 Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarkets stores in the USA.
With this acquisition the German retailer would take over operations of about 400 stores in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi. It is expected that Aldi would want to convert all of those stores to the Aldi format, but it could take a few years for that conversion. In a separate deal, the pharmacies at the Winn-Dixie and Harveys Supermarkets were handed over to Walgreens and CVS.
News of the acquisition pulled the attention away from the big Kroger / Albertsons merger and is seen as an opportunity for Aldi to quickly accelerate growth.
Aldi is already expanding aggressively in the USA, where it has more than 2,300 stores across 38 states. Separate from the acquisition, it is on track to open 120 new stores by year-end.
Industry experts have commented that this acquisition is an opportunity for Aldi to really go into the Southeast and grow that opportunity to connect with more shoppers.
The deal is expected to close in the first half of next year.
