LIDL
Opened: 2018
Owner: Schwarz Group
Previous Tenants: none
Cooperative: none
Location: 2375 US-22, Union, NJ
Photographed: March 6, 2019 and January 7, 2026
Before we begin, just a heads up: this was originally posted in June 2021, but was rewritten with new photos in September 2026. Now for the post! Today we get to see an extensive look at a first-generation US LIDL -- back when the discount chain was pretty sure they'd dominate the American grocery market with a fleet of these admittedly striking but extremely costly custom-built locations. Well, LIDL continues to expand (though not without its share of struggles and missteps), but ultimately, these impressive buildings proved to be too expensive. The chain has since looked for a variety of empty spaces to reuse as well as building less costly new ones.
LIDL's locations have also gotten smaller over the years, with this one reaching nearly 40,000 square feet -- not all that much smaller than the 62,000 square foot
ShopRite just next door. There's a surprisingly old-school ALDI on the other side of town, too, which I've photographed but not yet posted, along with a handful of other supermarkets in this area.
In this first-generation prototype, bakery is in the front-right corner with produce opposite it. Cold cuts and prepared foods are in the first aisle along the right-side wall with meat in single-tier, low coolers opposite that. Dairy is at the back with frozen on the left side. Since opening, this store has also added a small wine and beer section in the front-left corner.
This format was clearly too big for LIDL, relying on a huge nonfoods section and a lot of open space all the way around. It didn't really attract customers, and some of those early missteps really caused problems for LIDL. Several reworks later, new LIDL stores these days are smaller, more cost-effective to build, and tighter with a more focused product mix. So my opinion of LIDL has changed pretty dramatically over the years, as they've honed their operations and they've figured out what will actually draw customers in. When I first visited this one, I struggled to figure out why anyone would shop there regularly. Apparently, I wasn't the only one with questions like that.
The building certainly looks impressive from the outside, but doesn't have a whole lot design-wise going on inside. That means it's not really necessary to build such an expensive structure if the inside won't really do anything with it.
This store has a gigantic nonfoods-slash-household junk area towards the back, also something that's been slimmed down in newer locations.
In other words, these earlier stores have the feeling of a dollar store in an impressive building, while the newer ones feel more like a discount supermarket in a discount supermarket building. It's less exciting, but seems to be resonating much better with customers.
Beer and wine in the last aisle on the left side...
ALDI has also opened a new store about a mile and a half west on route 22, and between these two stores, there's also a new independent greengrocer along with the high-volume ShopRite nearby. All that to say, this store strikes me as still low-volume even as the chain on the whole has adjusted their formula and is doing better than they were in the early days.
You can see some newer LIDLs
here!
This post was rewritten on September 13, 2026 with new photos.
I had my first LIDL experience in South Carolina recently, in one of these purpose-built locations. Such beautiful buildings! And the bakery blew my expectations out of the water; it was phenomenal. I liked that the store was basically ALDI on steroids -- just a much larger version of what I'm used to. But, just as I don't shop at ALDI regularly, I probably wouldn't do so at LIDL, either. The discount format is better suited for an occasional trip, for me.
ReplyDeleteCertainly beautiful facilities in the new-build locations and a pretty strong bakery. I agree with you about it being a larger version of ALDI -- but I think ALDI's execution is way better. Why am I going to pay $3+ for orange juice at LIDL when I get basically the same orange juice at Food Bazaar or ACME for the same price (and it's 2/$5 almost every week at Food Bazaar)? To me, the prices don't justify the trip, the selection doesn't justify the trip, and the quality most certainly doesn't justify the trip.
DeleteWell said!
DeleteProbably not surprising they would have larger stores here than in other countries - I remember reading years back when Tandy (Radio Shack) first started opening overseas they shrunk their (already not that big) stores due to much higher costs they had in those areas. Also about Delhaize when they bought into Food Lion that was due to not being able to expand at home as the number of "larger" stores (supermarkets) was restricted by those in charge of the country.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting, that makes a lot of sense. Thanks for the insight!
DeleteI shop occasionally at the LIDL in Weehawken (former ACME) just to see if the place ever improves. I have never been in the store when it felt fully stocked. Always asking myself "is this a supply issue? is this a stocking issue?" The store is not that busy for there to be so many empty shelves throughout. Never see the place with more than two registers open and there are no self-checkouts which I have seen in every other LIDL I've been in.
ReplyDeleteThe bakery does looks to be pretty good but I haven't tried much since everything is being packaged in big mulit-packs due to COVID. Hoping they return to single serve soon so I can sample some of the items. I have purchased two different varieties of their fresh baked bread and both were excellent.
Now if they only would only put that much effort into the produce department! It's just awful. And it's so strange in the Weehawken store that the meat department is smack dab in the MIDDLE of the produce department. I always forget there is more produce on the other side of the meat cases!
I love that... "just to see if the place ever improves". Yeah, most of the LIDL stores I've been to have had stock issues similarly but there are like three employees in the whole store with two of them on registers. I think most LIDLs do have self-checkouts, but I do recall Park Ridge not having them... so maybe some of the newer stores don't have self-checkouts? Or just the ones they got from ACME?
DeleteYeah, I've gotta say that the bakery quality is quite solid but the packaging is not appealing lately. My problem with the bakery once again comes around to the stock... I've visited a random selection of LIDLs at all different times of the day and they're always almost completely sold out. So I'm not sure what's wrong there, either. I will say the chocolate chip cookies are quite good.
And yes once again, produce is quite weak at LIDL, and that is a bizarre layout. I've never been to Weehawken but I see exactly what you mean from photos online. I think LIDL's US execution has been poorly thought-out to say the least, but somehow they seem to keep expanding. What's your take, do you think they'll eventually catch on and really change the market like some people are saying? Or do you think they're expanding way too fast and eventually will run out of money and either close up shop or really reduce their US operations?
I honestly don’t know what to think about Lidl. It was reported widely in the beginning how badly they stumbled but they must have gotten things on track to be able to justify their rapid expansion plans. The only store I can observe closely is the Weehawken location. It does seem to attract a steady stream of shoppers throughout the day but is never terribly busy. And again… nasty produce, empty shelves, long checkout lines and cleanliness issues since day 1 aren’t a recipe for huge success!
DeleteYeah exactly... definitely it's a combined problem of a tough format (discount/limited assortment, which many shoppers dislike) and poor execution when compared to a competitor like ALDI. I assume the US division does enough business to justify the ongoing expansion, but the corporate end also seems to be hitting rough times, with a lot of leadership changes (and just today, Klaus Gehrig who ran LIDL's parent company, announced his resignation over a "very important matter" on which he disagreed with ownership). I wonder whether they'll hit a wall at some point or just plow through and hope for the best.
Delete