Special Report: LIDL - Freehold, NJ

LIDL
Opened: May 9, 2025

Owner: The Schwarz Group

Previous Tenants: assorted non-grocery tenants

Cooperative: none

Location: 91 Trotters Way, Freehold, NJ

Photographed: May 9, 2025

Welcome to the newest LIDL! This roughly 36,000 square foot store opened yesterday in an outparcel of the Freehold Raceway Mall in central Jersey, replacing a closed Bob's Stores. LIDL seems to be treating this store as roughly a replacement for the Howell location, which was located in a former Best Buy at 4250 US-9 in Howell about eight miles south. That store closed in the summer of 2023, nearly two years ago.

This LIDL appears to be just slightly larger than the closed Howell location. It's a jump headfirst into an area with a lot of competition. Within three miles, there's a Wegmans in Manalapan, a Trader Joe's in Freehold, a produce market and an ALDI right across the highway with a ShopRite next door to that, an ACME to the south, a Walmart Supercenter and Sam's Club across the highway to the south, a Livoti's and a Stop & Shop to the west, and in downtown Freehold, two small grocers -- an Exito Freshmarket and the New City Food Market.

And yet, LIDL seems up to the challenge. On the first day (when I visited late afternoon), the store was busy and people seemed to be filling carts, not just browsing. I'm sure many who were here for opening day won't be back regularly, but after a rocky start in the US, LIDL seems to have found its footing and its latest store openings have been well-executed with a good selection and pricing.

Still, the competition here is rough. The ALDI was quiet when I visited, but to their credit, it was the cleanest and most orderly ALDI I've seen in a long time. A store like Exito or Livoti's is just so completely different from LIDL that they can certainly coexist. And although the ShopRite nearby is quite dated -- think lots of burnt-out neon -- it was very busy when I was there yesterday.

This store has a standard LIDL layout, with bakery and produce in the front-left corner. Bread, deli, and meat/seafood line the rest of the first aisle on the left side, with dairy on the back wall. The Midl of Lidl section is at the back of the store, with frozen on the right side in the last aisle. The layout is nearly identical to Livingston, which opened last winter.

Bold, clear Big Lidl Deals signage is easy to find and eye-catching. Even though the stores are a lot simpler in design than previous iterations, I prefer these newer stores. They feel sleeker and more organized.

Midl of Lidl in the back of the store, with general merchandise and other nonfoods...

And dairy lines the back wall of the store behind the Midl.

LIDL was obviously prepared for the grand opening, as even later in the day the store was meticulously stocked. Generally, I find them to be better at keeping up their stores than ALDI -- their most direct competitor -- although I've certainly been in pretty dirty LIDLs and pretty immaculate ALDIs.

The Freehold Raceway Mall is the largest in central Jersey and one of the largest in the state, and has an indoor portion as well as several outparcels like this.

Dairy continues down part of the last aisle, with frozen in the front part of the last aisle.

By my best guess, the backroom space is on the left side of the store, not the back as you might expect. Notice the exit door in the picture above that presumably exits directly to the rear of the building. For that reason, it's deep and narrow.

It's a bit smaller than the Livingston location I mentioned above. It's only a difference of about 5,000 square feet, but you can definitely feel it in the store.

LIDL is pushing ahead with new store openings, too, with several in the coming months. Up next is a store in downtown Brooklyn, which will open May 23. Stay tuned -- I'll have to go check it out! Don't forget that you can always see the latest new store openings and renovations with the links at the top of the website. In the meantime, there's a lot more to see this weekend, including a full day of Staten Island tomorrow...

• LIDL opens a new Central Jersey store (this post)
• An innovative Asian market prepares for its grand opening
• A new neighborhood supermarket opens on Staten Island as several others renovate and change banners in Rossville, Sunnyside, and Rosebank (Sunday)