Aldi targets Manhattan with first Midtown store in $9bn US expansion

Aldi opened its first Midtown Manhattan store at 311 West 42nd Street, on the ground floor of The Ellery near Times Square, bringing its discount format into one of New York’s busiest retail corridors. The store opened with fresh groceries, organic options, ALDI-exclusive brands and weekly ALDI Finds, and the company gave gift bags to the first 200 customers while limited-edition ALDI NYC tote bags were available while supplies lasted.

In January, Aldi said it would open more than 180 stores in 2026, invest $9 billion in the United States through 2028 and move toward 3,200 U.S. stores by the end of that year. The chain had 2,614 U.S. stores as of Dec. 31, 2025, making it the third-largest grocery chain in the country by store count behind Walmart and Kroger as it entered its 50th year in the market. Aldi also said 17 million new customers visited its stores in 2025 and that one in three U.S. households shopped there over the past year.

More than 90% of its assortment is private label, and in September 2025 it launched its largest packaging refresh yet, putting the Aldi name on nearly every exclusive product after customer feedback pushed the company to make its own brands more visible.

A February 2026 Consumer Reports price comparison put the gap between the highest- and lowest-priced chains in six regionally representative cities at more than 33%, and Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data put food prices up 25.5% between December 2020 and December 2024. Aldi says its own model can save a family of four nearly $4,000 a year.