Brent Laubaugh, vice-president at ALDI’s regional headquarters in Saxonburg, Butler County, recently announced that the Penn Avenue store — which has been the focus of much recent community activity to bring another high-quality food retailer to the city’s East End — will open again as an ALDI grocery store. 

ALDI announced that the company has completed its purchase of 66 real estate assets from the Delhaize Group, including the Penn Avenue location. The transaction includes the land, buildings and leasehold improvements associated with Delhaize’s recently retired Bottom Dollar Food operation.

Mayor Bill Peduto’s office released a statement that Peduto, the Bloomfield-Garfield Corporation, and the citizens and business owners in the Penn Avenue corridor were excited about the news from the ALDI.

“The ALDI business model will be a great asset to the residents of Garfield and a number of the neighborhoods surrounding it,” Peduto said. “For folks who want to stretch their grocery dollar, ALDI can be a great place to shop.”

In 1987, a Giant Eagle grocery store closed on Penn Avenue, forcing neighborhood residents to travel miles to purchase groceries. For residents without cars and elderly residents, this proved to be a hardship, especially in the winter months, according to Peduto.

The mayor and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald met in February with ALDI officials and urged them to give the Penn Avenue location serious consideration as a possible third store in the city. ALDI currently operates stores in Pittsburgh on Baum Boulevard and East Carson Street.

“ALDI said they would work to achieve a positive outcome for the community with this site, no matter what would happen, and they were true to their word,” Peduto said. “Today’s announcement is another great example of what happens when Pittsburgh business, neighborhood and our government leaders — including Executive Fitzgerald and City Councilwoman Deb Gross — come together to work for the common good.”

In December 2013, ALDI embarked on an accelerated growth plan to open 650 new stores by the end of 2018, with the goal of operating nearly 2,000 stores across the country. ALDI also is planning to invest more than $3 billion to pay for land, facilities and equipment. When the expansion is complete, ALDI will have stores coast to coast and anticipates serving more than 45 million customers per month. The expansion is expected to create more than 10,000 new jobs at ALDI stores, warehouses and division offices.

To see the full list of stores ALDI plans to re-open across the region, please read this announcement from the organization.