Lidl grocery store no longer coming to Staunton

STAUNTON — The Lidl discount grocery store planned for Richmond Road in Staunton is no longer happening, according to David Brown with Brown & Co. Realtors.

"The only explanation they gave was they were no longer going to the smaller markets," Brown said.

Lidl, a European-based grocery, has made the leap over to the United States and tapped Staunton to be one of its locations back in April.

According to Staunton's planning commission, Lidl requested to rezone a portion of 909 Richmond Road from light industrial to general business in April. The property in question is a portion of where Staunton Plant currently resides. It is planning a new location on Frontier Drive.

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Construction was set to begin as soon as the company closed on the property, which was supposed to be Friday. However, Lidl backed out of the deal three weeks ago, Brown said.

A call to Lidl's acquisition manager, Jacob Willis, was not immediately returned Friday afternoon.

Lidl is set to open stores in Goose Creek, S.C., and Fredericksburg, Va., according to its website.

What is Lidl?

Lidl is a German-based discount grocery chain that is often compared to Aldi, but Lidl’s U.S. stores footprint of 36,00 square feet is more than twice the size of typical Aldi locations, according to a release by Supermarket News.

Lidl first selected Virginia as its headquarters location back in 2015, according to the Virginia governor's office. Lidl invested $202 million to establish operations, which included $77 million for its U.S. corporate headquarters in Arlington County, creating 500 new jobs, as well as $125 million in a regional headquarters and distribution center facility in Spotsylvania County, creating an additional 200 jobs, the release said.

The first wave of stores, to be located at unspecified locations in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, would open roughly four years after reports first surfaced of Lidl's plans to expand in the U.S., according to Supermarket News.

Lidl is a division of Schwarz Group, one of Europe’s largest retailers with 10,000 stores in 26 countries, and is often compared to its domestic rival Aldi for efficient operations, limited assortment and service, and heavy emphasis on private label goods, according to Supermarket News.

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