Discount Retail Chain ALDI SÜD (privately owned) opens in Mülheim an der Ruhr its largest store. The XXL discount store has almost 2,000 square meters of retail space, that's about twice as much as an average store.
This ALDI SÜD is simply gigantic. Shoppers can expect the familiar standard assortment range at the Mülheimer Mannesmannallee 32 in the future, but the spatial dimensions over which it is distributed will amaze. The record size comes through structural expansion. After closing a neighboring shop, ALDI SÜD was able to structurally integrate its premises and expand the existing sales area by almost 300 sqm to a total of 1940 sqm. There is no larger store in the ALDI SÜD worldwide chain, neither in Hungary, Austria, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland or China, nor in Australia, Great Britain, Ireland or the USA.
Use niches, develop spaces
The expansion is made possible by a flexible furnishing concept. Most recently, with the opening of urban discount stores in Cologne, Düsseldorf and Frankfurt am Main, the discounter had shown how smoothly their design can be adapted to the sometimes difficult conditions of narrow inner cities. In Mülheim, not far from the headquarters of the ALDI SÜD administration and ALDI SÜD coffee roastery production plant, this flexibility is now taking effect on a large scale. "As far as the construction and furnishing of our new stores is concerned, we are very flexible and can not only use smaller niches in the city," says Tom Ritzdorf, Regional Head of Store Development at ALDI SÜD in Dormagen. "If there is a sensible opportunity in existing properties, we are happy to take and use the additional space."
Freshness is a top priority
The new store offers shoppers an extraordinary shopping experience. The sales area is equipped in the latest design and stretches in seven aisles over a width of 30 meters over a length of up to 60 meters. The freshness area is generously laid out. A large selection of fresh, partly chilled fruit and vegetables as well as fresh meat and fish is already waiting at the entrance. The Mülheim store has a total of more than 70 meters of refrigerated shelves. The bake off section 'MEINE BACKWELT' adds another fresh touch. The range includes many bakery items, including various types of breads, buns and rolls as well as convenience items. Employees prepare the baked goods fresh from the oven several times a day in the store. The assortment also includes a category range of fresh herbs in which six different varieties are grown and sold freshly harvested. This is made possible by an exclusive cooperation with Infarm from Berlin, the world's fastest growing farming network.
Leap to the top
The location in Mannesmannallee has existed since the end of 1993. With 1,661 square meters of retail space, the store was already in the top league of the largest branches before it was renovated. The average size of the ALDI SÜD store is almost 1,000 sqm. So far, the ALDI SÜD store in Jestetten has taken first place in the floor space ranking. The location near the Swiss border has 1,770 square meters of retail space. The smallest ALDI SÜD branch is located on Königstrasse in Nuremberg (Germany). Shoppers shop here on around 400 sqm.
This ALDI SÜD XXL discount store has 7 cash registers, as a ALDI SÜD store in Frankfurt am Main has 12, the highest number of cash registers within the ALDI group in Germany.
