Lidl to debut 10th Charlotte-area store as part of latest expansion in grocery wars
The 10th Lidl store in the Charlotte area will open next month in south Charlotte.
The low-cost grocer’s grand opening of the 30,000-square-foot store at 11200 Carmel Commons Boulevard at 7:30 a.m. May 11, the German company said April 29 in a news release. Lidl invested more than $13 million in the site, according to the company.
The latest Lidl opening comes as other grocers like Florida-based Publix have announced three more stores in as many months will open in the competitive grocery sector of the Charlotte market. International grocer Super G Mart also will open its third and largest store this summer in Pineville.
The new Lidl store will hire more than 40 full- and part-time employees, with starting pay at $15.50 per hour. Store hours will be 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
Last year, Lidl opened stores at 615 W. Mallard Creek Church Road in University City and 11225 S. Tryon St. in Steele Creek.
Another 31,000-square-foot store is planned for 3229 South Blvd. There is no opening date announced yet.
More about Lidl
The first Charlotte Lidl debuted in December 2019 on Monroe Road. Lidl also has opened stores in Matthews, Rock Hill, Indian Trail, Gastonia and Concord.
There are about 200 Lidl employees in the Charlotte area, and more than 900 in North Carolina, the Observer previously reported.
Lidl operates around 11,550 stores in 32 countries, with over 341,000 employees, according to the company.
In the Charlotte region, Lidl’s market share dropped slightly from 2.3% in 2020 to 1.96% last year, according to sales tracking firm Chain Store Guide’s latest annual report.
Walmart remains No. 1 by market share in the Charlotte region for the third year in a row, followed by Matthews-based Harris Teeter then Salisbury-based Food Lion, according to the guide.
Other supermarket store openings
Here are other expansion plans for grocers in the area:
▪ Publix, based in Florida, has at least seven store openings planned in the Charlotte region.
A 55,000-square-foot store with a drive-thru is proposed at 11525 Carmel Commons. The site is about a quarter-mile from the new Lidl store.
The other six new stores Publix is planning are: Clear Creek Crossings at Albemarle and Rocky River Church roads in Charlotte; The Colony at Sharon and Colony roads in SouthPark; Harris Farms Shopping Center at Coddle Creek Highway and Kistler Farm Road in Mooresville; North Creek Village at Sam Furr and Davidson Concord roads in Huntersville; 10 Tryon building at Tryon and Ninth streets in uptown; and Arboretum at Providence and Pineville-Matthews Roads.
▪ International grocer Super G Mart will open its third and largest North Carolina store by the end of June or early July at 10500 Centrum Parkway in Pineville, with a food hall, full-restaurant and retail.
▪ In February, Lowes Foods opened its “first-of-its-kind” store with entertainment at 14021 Boren St. in Huntersville in a former Earth Fare. The Winston-Salem-based grocer also will anchor Christenbury Village in Concord in a 52,000-square-foot space. That store is expected to open early next year, down the road from a Lidl.
▪ In January, Food Lion opened at 2201 West W. T. Harris Blvd. in Charlotte, in a former Harris Teeter. The store features a hot bar, to-go meals and local produce. Last spring, the Salisbury-based grocer opened a store at 1620 Ashley Road in northwest Charlotte in the former Harveys Supermarket location.
▪ In June, specialty grocer Earth Fare, based in Asheville, opened its fifth area store in Davidson.
▪ A year ago, Silicon Valley online-only grocer Farmstead expanded its free delivery service to homes within an hour’s drive of its Westwood Forest warehouse after opening its first East Coast hub in Charlotte in 2020.
This story was originally published April 29, 2022 at 1:57 PM.