BERGENFIELD — Construction workers are laboring at 80 New Bridge Road to ready a new Lidl supermarket, and help wanted signs are posted.

The German supermarket chain plans to open its first North Jersey location in Bergen County by spring of next year, according to a Lidl spokesperson.

Chandler Ebeier, a spokeswoman for Lidl US, said the Bergenfield site is one of 25 stores that the international discount grocer plans to open along the East Coast by spring 2020.

Lidl already has five locations in New Jersey: Vineland, which opened in 2017, Eatontown, Hazlet and Union, which all opened last year, and this month in Lacey.

It is also looking to expand its footprint in northern New Jersey. It has signed a lease in Montclair to open a 29,000-square-foot store in the Lackawanna Station development.

Ebeier said of the Bergenfield location, "The store is currently under construction and the team is working on the fit out of the site. ... The store will be beautifully fit out with all new equipment and furnishing."

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The property is surrounded by fencing with signs reading "Hard Hat Area," and work is being done on the exterior. Unlike most Lidl stores, which are either built from the ground up or are leased, this one will use a renovated building.

Lidl purchased the 54,650 square-foot building, constructed in 1988, last October from Klingensmith Associates LLC of New Hope, Pennsylvania, for $10.5 million, according to public records.

But it does not plan to use the whole space. It submitted plans in November to the Planning Board to subdivide the building to retain about 32,500 square feet for the store, with the remaining space to be rented out. The plans call for 152 parking spaces to be set aside for Lidl and 117 for the tenant.

Mayor Norman Schmelz, who also serves on the Planning Board, said Lidl had sent a letter to the borough asking to place a generator in the parking lot that would take up two parking spaces, and wanted to make the exterior signage smaller.

"We didn't think they needed to go in front of the board, that it was administrative, so we allowed them to do it," Schmelz said.

He also said he was hoping for the market to open in November, but was content to wait until spring for the first supermarket to operate there since Acme closed in November 2017. Acme replaced a Pathmark that occupied the spot for many years.

Email: kaulessar@northjersey.com