Aldi has opened its 10th smaller-format ‘Local’ store in London today, with the launch of its Old Street store.
First trialled in Balham in March 2019, Aldi Local stores aim to meet the growing demand of new customers across the capital, with other Local stores including Camden, Kilburn, Tooting and Kingston – and a further store opening on Finchley Road next month.
The smaller-format stores are typically 600m2 in size and located on busy metropolitan high streets in London. They stock around 1,500 products, compared with the 1,800 products stocked in a standard-sized Aldi store.
Graham Hetherington, Regional Managing Director at Aldi UK, said: “There are still far too many people living in London who don’t have access to an Aldi nearby – but we’re committed to changing that.
“Aldi Local means we can provide more London shoppers with our unrivalled prices in a convenient format and we plan to continue to look for suitable opportunities to open even more Local stores.”
The Old Street store will be run by Store Manager Grant Ugwuegbulam-Condor, along with a team of 30 colleagues from the local community.
Colleagues at Aldi stores within the M25 can earn up to £11.55 an hour, which exceeds the Living Wage Foundation’s recommended real living wage rates.
The store opened its doors to customers this morning at 7am, with ParalympicsGB’s Oliver Lam-Watson and Team GB’s Kate French cutting the red ribbon alongside pupils from St Luke’s C of E Primary School.
The athletes gave away complimentary bags of fresh fruit and vegetables from Aldi’s famous Super 6 range to the first 30 customers in the queue, before delivering an inspirational assembly for pupils at St Luke’s C of E Primary School as part of the supermarket’s initiative, Get Set to Eat Fresh.
Grant Ugwuegbulam-Condor said: “It has been a wonderful morning here at the opening of the Old Street store. It was lovely to welcome our new customers into store, and I look forward to meeting more of the community in the coming weeks.”
ParalympicsGB star Oliver Lam-Watson added: “I’ve had a fantastic time opening the new Aldi this morning. It was an honour to help cut the ribbon and welcome customers inside for the first time.”
Team GB Olympian Kate French said: “It was great to speak with the children at St Luke’s C of E Primary School about the importance of eating healthily and how it can be fun to plan and prepare meals as a family. Hopefully we’ve also managed to inspire the pupils to keep active and try different sports.”
The new Aldi Local store is calling on local charities and food banks in the local community to register with Neighbourly, a community engagement platform, to receive surplus food and perishable products. Any charities in the area that would like to partner up with the new Aldi store should email [email protected].
The store is located at 205 Old Street, London, EC1V 9QN, and will be open from 7am to 11pm Monday to Saturday, and from 11am to 5pm on Sundays.
