By Karen Brune Mathis
Managing Editor
Aldi, the international discount supermarket chain, intends to open a Jacksonville store in Southside Square near The Avenues mall.
The chain wants to renovate the former Circle K Furniture store at 9041 Southside Blvd. next to Target. Plans filed with the city show the 21,025-square-foot store will be converted at a project cost of $900,000.
Aldi opened its first Northeast Florida store in October in St. Augustine. It also has filed plans for a store in Middleburg.
Aldi operates almost 1,300 stores in 32 states from Kansas to the East Coast and has been adding an average of 80 stores each year. Company representatives did not return telephone calls or emails for comment.
When Aldi opened in St. Augustine, a news release said customers can expect to find more than 1,300 of the most commonly purchased items sold under Aldi’s exclusive brands for prices up to 50 percent less than traditional supermarkets, based on a price comparison of comparable products it says are sold at a leading national retail grocer.
It carries almost 70 varieties of fruits and vegetables, including several organic produce items.
Aldi stores feature a smaller store footprint than traditional grocery stores and offer open carton displays. It encourages customers to bring their own shopping bags.
With U.S. offices in Batavia, Ill., Aldi reported in late November it is in the early stages of an accelerated strategic growth plan in the U.S.
The company plans to open 650 new stores across the country, including expanding to Southern California, boosting the number of U.S. stores to almost 2,000 by the end of 2018. The expansion is expected to create more than 10,000 jobs at Aldi stores, warehouses and division offices across the country.
The building-permit application shows that the Jacksonville Aldi store is part of the Aldi Haines City Division.
Cuhaci & Peterson of Orlando is the project architect. Upham Inc. of Ormond Beach is the civil engineer. The permit shows the contractor is to be determined.
Aldi, based in Germany, was started in the same family that created Trader Joe’s.
Aldi entered Central Florida in 2008 and now has about 60 stores in 45 cities, including Ocala and Daytona. Its Central Florida distribution center is in Haines City.
Aldi has been expected to expand throughout Northeast Florida.
In September 2013, shopping center developer Ben Hakimian said he understood that Aldi might open at least 13 stores throughout North Florida.
In addition to Southside, other major trade areas in Jacksonville that are central to large populations are Regency, Mandarin, the Beaches, Westside and North Jacksonville, although no deals have surfaced for Aldi locations in those markets.
@MathisKb
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