Aldi has created a new specialised national real estate team to lead its store expansion plans.
The new centralised team will be led by managing director for real estate Jonathan Neale, and will be aided by a team from Colliers, who will act as national advisors. Greg Styles, head of retail development and advisory, will lead the Colliers team.
The creation of the new unit would make it easier for Aldi to deal with the real estate sector, Aldi said. The team will play a central role in its plan to open “500 new UK stores”.
The discounter – which currently has more than 1000 UK stores – announced earlier this year that its long-term target is to open up to 1,500 new stores. However it has not provided a timeframe on when it plans to reach that goal.
Along with fierce rival Lidl, it has also not publicly disclosed how many stores it intends to build in 2024. Having publicly targeted around 50 new openings a year on average since 2017, both retailers have slowed their store openings during the cost of living crisis.
Aldi is aiming to build at least 200 new stores in London, particularly in the southeast of the city. Glasgow and Worthing are also locations identified by the company.
Neale, who has spent the past eight years as the supermarket’s buying managing director, was previously real estate director for the discounter.
“This year we opened our landmark 1,000th store and we have the most ambitious expansion plans of any major supermarket,” Neale said.
“Centralising our real estate team and making it easier for the real estate sector to deal with Aldi is the first step in accelerating progress towards our goal of opening a further 500 new stores. We have clear, consistent requirements and want to partner with land-owners, landlords and developers.
“Listening to the sector, we know our new national team will make it easier for people to work with us. We are now set up to have the kind of agility needed to find and deliver the sites and schemes that will help us to bring our amazing quality and unbeatable value to every town and community in the country.”
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