LIDL
Located on the site of the former Daily Record newspaper building, LIDL has opened its latest New Jersey store in a new mixed-use development. It's one of their relatively few new build stores lately, as most of their focus is on converting existing buildings, but it's nice to see a brand-new building.
At 23,500 square feet, it's not that large. But it feels spacious and modern, and the new building it's in helps. It's a standard LIDL layout with produce and bakery in the front-left corner, then deli and meat/seafood lining the first aisle on the left side. Dairy lines the back aisle and part of the last aisle on the right side, with frozen in the front half of the last aisle.
Notice how you can tell the space is smaller here than a store like Livingston, which at 40,000 square feet is nearly double this store's size.
This decor package continues to evolve, with special touches like this croissant sign not seen in the earlier stores like Livingston. It's a no-nonsense decor package, but appropriate for a store like LIDL. And I really like the use of polished concrete floors in the newer stores.
This store is just up the street from a ShopRite in South Hackensack, which is large and clean but unremarkable. An H Mart is also near the ShopRite, but here in downtown Hackensack there are a number of smaller grocers. Universal and Hackensack Market, both of which are newly renovated (keep an eye out for a Universal post soon!), are within walking distance of this store, as is a Giant Farmers Market. On the northern end of the city is an ALDI and a 99 Ranch Market.
Looking down the first aisle. This store is narrow and deep, meaning the aisles are very long but split into several sections.
And across the back wall, with milk and eggs in the back-right corner.
The grocery aisles are standard, and looking very nice and pristine for the grand opening. I was here two days after they opened.
The Midl of Lidl is much smaller than usual here, probably because of the store's much smaller overall size. There's only about three aisles of nonfoods, rather than the much larger selections at a bigger suburban store like Livingston.
Still, I have to imagine this will be a convenient spot to shop for all the people living in the expansive new housing also being constructed at this property.
Paper goods and dairy in the back half of the last aisle, with frozen foods in the front half. Notice that dairy runs farther down this aisle than typical, because there's less space on the back wall for it.
LIDL also continues to expand with new locations, and they've managed to nail down a formula that works here in the US after several years of struggling. The LIDL stores I've visited lately are far better-run than the original stores, and better-run than their equivalent competitors like ALDI (to me at least). Across the ocean in the UK, LIDL has just unseated ALDI as the cheapest supermarket in the country.
A look across the front-end towards bakery and produce...
Up in Tappan, New York (Rockland County), LIDL is preparing their first store west of the Hudson in New York. But it's still an area they're familiar with -- this property is all of 400 feet from the New Jersey state line, and just five miles from their Park Ridge store. Still, although the plans were approved back in 2022...
Opened: July 30, 2025
Owner: Schwarz Group
Previous Tenants: none
Cooperative: none
Location: 80 River St, Hackensack, NJ
Photographed: August 1, 2025
Speaking of the front-end, let's address the one thing that's going much worse these days at LIDL: the checkout. My local LIDL originally had about half a dozen self-checkouts open all the time, then they'd open anywhere from zero to three staffed registers depending on traffic. Now, the self-checkouts are mostly closed (I haven't seen them open in several weeks at least, so I don't know exactly what schedule they're on) and there's never more than one register open. I've never waited so long at the checkout! I imagine the move is intended to combat theft or the like, but it seems like a poor use of resources. Now onto another piece of LIDL news...
LIDL
Opening: TBA
Owner: Schwarz Group
Previous Tenants: none
Cooperative: none
Location: 29 NY-303, Tappan, NY
Photographed: August 1, 2025
...the soon-to-open LIDL is still just an empty gravel lot. As of October 2024, the best confirmation a local newsletter could get was that officials "still hope" LIDL would open at the site. We'll see if they do! Also this weekend...
Saturday
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