Aldi will open Groton store on Feb. 2
Groton — Aldi food market, a supermarket known for discount groceries, will open its first store in Groton at 688 Long Hill Road on Feb. 2, the company said in a news release.
The store in the Groton Shopping Center — down the street from Big Y and within a few miles of Stop & Shop — will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 8:30 a.m. on opening day and give the first 100 customers a “golden ticket” containing gift cards of various amounts, the release said.
Customers will also be able to enter a sweepstakes for a chance to win a years’ supply of store produce, the release said.
“I think a lot of people are excited about this,” said Ed Suarez, a Groton resident who checked out the outside of the store on Monday. “The food prices at the supermarkets are just too high. The cost of living is rising.”
A typical Aldi store employs 12 to 15 people, said Bruce Persohn, the South Windsor division vice president for Aldi. The Groton store advertised jobs for $12.75 per hour, and more than 500 informational sheets about the store had been picked up, a store employee said Monday.
The store opening comes as Groton seeks to upgrade its strip malls, boost economic development and take advantage of an influx of new workers at Electric Boat in the coming years. The other Aldi stores closest to Groton are in Westerly and Lisbon.
“We look forward to bringing the unique Aldi shopping experience to customers in Groton and the surrounding communities, including New London,” Persohn said in an email. “In addition to our new Groton store, Aldi has a strong presence throughout Connecticut, with a total of 23 stores across the state.”
Aldi is in the midst of an expansion and plans to have 2,000 stores nationwide by the end of 2018. It now runs 1,600 U.S. stores in 35 states, the company news release said.
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