Aldi has opened its 10th UK distribution centre, creating 400 jobs in Sheppey, Kent.
The £50m, 600,000 sq ft facility is to serve nearly 60 stores across the south east and more as Aldi continues to grow its estate.
The discounter plans to open 130 stores in 2019 and 2020, bringing the total to 957.
A longer-term target of 1,000 stores by 2025 was raised in October last year to 1,200.
Many of the stores to open this year and next will be in the south east, including London, Brighton and Deal, an Aldi spokesman said.
The supermarket had attracted almost half a million new customers in the last 12 months, boosting its UK grocery market share to 7.5%, the spokesman added.
“The new Sheppey distribution centre significantly increases our capacity and allows us to open more stores across the south east to cater for the growing number of shoppers switching to Aldi,” said Ben Shotter, Aldi’s managing director for the Isle of Sheppey Regional Distribution Centre.
“Although some of our newest and most popular stores are situated in the south east, there are still many towns and cities where we have a limited presence or none at all. This is something that we are looking to address in the coming years.”
Rival Lidl also recently opened a new distribution centre, its 13th in the UK, creating 400 jobs at the six million sq ft site in Doncaste
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