3209 NC-87
Sanford, NC 27332
(844) 747-5435
Donut Case
Baked Goods
Rear of the Store View
Today a new grocery store opened in Sanford, North Carolina called Lidl. It's a discount grocery chain that started in Germany in 1972 and over the years has grown across Europe becoming one of the most successful chains. This year they entered the US market hoping to be as successful. They have more than just groceries as shown on the last photo above. They offer an always changing assortment of home decor, kitchen gadgets and appliances, clothing, toys, tools, gardening supplies and more. The store looked really busy when I arrived, but I didn't have any trouble finding a parking space. It seemed that people were shopping quickly and there was a quick turn over. The store is open from 8 am to 9 pm daily.
When you enter the store there's a small flower section. On the right is the bakery and on the left is the produce department. As you walk toward the rear of the store there are more refrigerated items on the wall on the right. Cheeses, deli meats, yogurt etc. On the rear wall is ice cream and milk. On the left front wall are paper products, in the center wine and in the rear a freezer case with pizza, TV dinners, etc. In the rear center area are the "surprise" items which feature clothing, toys, etc. These items change weekly. Some of these items are featured in their weekly flyer. I wasn't able to find everything that was in the flyer. Either they hadn't put them out or they sold out by the time I arrived at 11:30 am.
The employees not in uniforms who were probably from corporate I found very unfriendly and pushy. They were all coming and going from a door near the bakery and were very pushy and impatient with customers that were trying to get baked goods that happened to be in their way. The only friendly employees I came across were the receptionist at the door and the cashier. There were no employees offering assistance to customers in the store. The registers are really close together with just enough space to get the cart through. Check out was really slow and the bagger needs some more training. I had to rearrange my groceries when I got to the car so that they wouldn't be damaged on the way home.
Stay tuned for my Lidl haul post showing what I purchased and a review of the products. My first impression is that I may return for their speciality items and baked goods maybe once a month or less. It's not a store I would shop at weekly. It kind of gives me the impression of a less fancy and less friendly Trader Joes. Their competition is apparently Aldi. That's a store I won't shop at, I'm very unimpressed by that one. Went once, saw nothing I wanted and walked out. So Lidl is definitely an upgrade from Aldi. Have you been to an Lidl yet or planning to?
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10 comments
They opened a couple Lidl here yesterday as well. I may go over there when the new factor wears off. In the meantime, I'll stick to my beloved Aldi!
An Aldi opened about 1 mi from my house in Dec 2016. It's good for a quick run to get milk, OJ, etc. but not for full-scale shopping. I love their "thin mint" cookies too!
Lidl and Wawa are supposedly coming to the DC area, so we'll have to wait and see.
What is it that you buy most at Aldi?
They had some of those mint cookies at Lidl too. Never heard of the brand, so I didn't buy them. Keebler makes one that tastes just like the GS cookies.
Wow, that's close by! I was surprised they chose VA, NC and SC to start and opening the same day. I haven't heard of where they are going next or when. Did you hear when?
They opened one SE Virginia and they're building two more in our town. I haven't gone yet as I'm waiting for the hype to calm down.
Are they like Aldi where you need to bring your own bags or pay for their bags?
No, they said in the US they provide paper bags. Apparently in other countries you have to bring your own. They gave away free reusable bags at the grand opening.
Yep, Lidl's main competitor is Aldi. The day Lidl opened, the Washington Post ran an article about it. The Fredericksburg VA store (bw DC and Richmond) was their test location and they tweaked things based on feedback. FWIW, Wikipedia says Lidl plans to have 100(!) stores by the end of 2017, focusing on the East Coast bw PA and GA.
Wawa is similar to Sheetz and Turkey Hill. Wawa is opening 2 convenience stores in DC (so far) - 1st in Dupont Circle and 2nd in Georgetown, neither of which will have gas. Hopefully when they expand to the DC suburbs they will.
Yes, you need to either bring your own bag or buy theirs. For the past several years, my county requires a "bag tax" of 5c if you use a store's bag instead of brining your own. Rationale = keeping waste out of streams/rivers.
More recently they've banned straws, non-organic pesticides, and non-organic weed killer (apparently they think *everyone* is using Roundup). Reportedly Takoma Park plans to ban gas appliances.
Lidl finally opened a store in Montgomery County back in Feb 2021! It's on Randolph Rd in Glenmont, where the Hechingers was decades ago but most recently was a Shoppers Food Warehouse.
Lidl is bigger than my Aldi and carries more name brands than I was expecting. One annoyance: bakery is all prepackaged (thx, covid!).
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