Aldi new stores: where are new supermarkets opening in UK in 2021 - from Edinburgh to Windsor

With its famous middle aisle and discount strategy, Aldi has become a staple of many UK shopping trips over the past decade.

The retailer says more than 60% of UK households shopped in its stores during 2020.

Now, the discount supermarket wants to extend its reach even further, announcing in September that it would open 100 new stores by 2023.

Aldi has already unveiled the towns where it is hoping to build dozens of these stores.

But on 3 November, it revealed where 15 new stores will be opened before the end of 2021.

So why is Aldi opening so many new shops - and where will they be?

Why Aldi is opening new stores

Aldi has been mounting an increasing challenge to the ‘big four’ UK supermarkets - Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons - in recent years.

You only have to look at the strategy of some of these retailers to see how seriously they take Aldi’s increasing popularity.

Both Tesco - the UK’s biggest supermarket - and Sainsbury’s run ‘Aldi Price Match’ deals as part of a bid to keep shoppers coming to their stores and websites.

To maintain its charge, Aldi revealed a £1.3bn growth strategy in September that would see it open an average of one new store a week until 2023, creating 2,000 jobs in the process.

If it fulfils this ambition, the supermarket chain will have more than 1,000 stores in the UK within the next two years (up from 930 at present), giving it access to more of the UK’s consumers.

“There are still too many people for whom shopping at Aldi isn’t a convenient option,” said national property director at Aldi UK Ciaran Aldridge.

“We’re committed to changing that and opening nearly four new stores a week before Christmas clearly demonstrates our progress with this.

“The new stores bring us one step closer to our goal of making our award-winning products at unbeatable prices easily accessible to even more shoppers across the country, and we look forward to welcoming local customers in for their weekly shop.”

Where will Aldi’s new stores be?

The new Aldi stores will be opening in most regions of Great Britain before the end of 2021.

Here is a full list of where they will be and when they are due to open:

South East

• Luton, Bedfordshire (11 November)
• Cheam, London (9 December)
• Orpington, London (2 December)
• Windsor, Berkshire (4 November)

Scotland

• Cumnock, East Ayrshire (TBC)
• Govan, Glasgow (18 November)
• Edinburgh, Midlothian (25 November)
• Hamilton, South Lanarkshire (TBC)

Wales

• Llanelli, Carmarthenshire (2 December)
• Neath, Glamorgan (18 November)

Midlands

• Biddulph, Staffordshire (TBC)
• Tamworth, Staffordshire (TBC)

East & North East

• Bedlington, Northumberland (TBC)
• Stamford, Lincolnshire (11 November)

South West

• Poole, Dorset (16 December)

The new openings follow the launch of new stores in Cheltenham, Dalston, Portlethen and South Harrow in October.

Aldi said each new store would create more than 30 new jobs on average.

Store assistants at the more than 50 stores Aldi has within the M25 will be paid £11.32 with paid breaks included, the supermarket said.

The pay rate is £10.57 across the rest of the country.

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