On Thursday, Lidl US officially announced that it had agreed on lease terms with affordable housing nonprofit Grand Street Guild for the 23,000-square-foot space at 408 Grand St. that previously housed a Rite Aid. (There were rumors of this pending arrival earlier last week, per the East of the Bowery Instagram account.)
There are several Lidl outposts around NYC, including Queens and Staten Island. When the Grand Street grocery opens next summer, it will be the third in Manhattan. There's one in Harlem now, with a location opening in Chelsea. (And more groceries are on the way.)
Lidl US first arrived in Virginia in June 2015. The U.S. expansion hasn't been smooth, per a June 24 post on Grocery Dive:
Renowned across Europe for the potent mix of low prices and high-quality goods that defines its thousands of colorful stores, Lidl arrived stateside with deep pockets, a highly developed private label strategy and a disciplined focus on efficiently running a complex business in a highly competitive environment.But instead of steadily growing its U.S. footprint as it had originally intended, Lidl US has moved ahead in fits and starts, prompting questions about why its value-focused business model has trouble gaining traction on American soil.
This retail space is on the other side of Grand and Clinton from Target, which opened in August 2018. (And yes — there's a Trader Joe's nearby too.)
