February 16, 2017
Lidl revs up for summer start in Virginia

Kickstart: Will Lidl speed growth in the US with an acquisition?
We now know that Lidl will enter the US this summer, at least six months ahead of schedule. Twenty stores are planned for Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina in a first wave and up to 100 outlets across the East Coast by mid-2018. This will create around 4,000 new jobs over the same period.
That's quite a bold start, but it took arch-rival Aldi 40 years to become even America's 20th-largest retailer. So, if Lidl doesn't want to wait most of this century before it joins the US big league, could the company go an a buying spree?

Made in Germany: Lidl's first US store in Fredericksburg/Virginia
Looking like a car showroom with lots of glass and a little bit of brickwork, we shall soon see whether this "tweener" concept – larger than Aldi, but smaller than a supermarket − is capable of seducing the US consumer in his or her increasing desire for a convenient food shopping trip.
So far so good, but it is hard to see Lidl matching the 2,000 stores Aldi wants to have by 2020. So could the Schwarz Group subsidiary hit the acquisitions trail, despite the current strength of the dollar vis-à-vis the euro? There are certainly countless small-sized chains in the US that could be targeted. But it is hard to imagine that Lidl would gain from buying regional companies of only 30 or 40 stores.
There are a lot of other possibilities, though. Kmart is falling apart and has many locations, but runs much larger stores. Food Lion is about the right-size box and also has almost the same state profile in the Southeast of the US. However, it is very unlikely that partner Ahold would let it go after harping on so much about the synergies of last year's merger.

Atlantic crossing: Lidl will finally come to America this summer – 41 years after Aldi
So the most likely move would probably be in the discount arena itself. Former Supervalu division Save-A-Lot has a very similar format, which is not done nearly as well. It is hard to know how the Family Dollar-Dollar Tree merger is proceeding, but there are few signs of progress some 18 months down the road.
With estimated annual sales in the US and Canada of around $12bn, Dollar Tree, Inc would make Lidl a middleweight in the US food retailing industry and nearly as large as Aldi, Inc.
Given Lidl's tight-lipped approach to life, we are not likely to hear in advance any strategic move the retailer is going to make on its 28th international market. But Lidl could surprise us all yet and make what the Donald calls "a beautiful deal".
Related article: "Lidl startet bereits im Sommer in den USA" by Mike Dawson & Hans Jürgen Schulz on page 6 of Lebensmittel Zeitung, no. 7, 17.02.2017
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Why not Florida for new stores?
Am wondering why the new stores on the East Coast from NJ to Georgia did not include Florida? Cape Coral Florida is a German Community with many German families coming to the area for either vacation or just to live here for their allotted time. Most of the business establishments have German-speaking employees to cater to the German population. Maybe its time to check out the Cape Coral area as it is a fast-growing new city with the majority population being German.
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