The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Aldi’s Pottstown location looks to be ‘more convenient’ for customers
POTTSTOWN » The area’s newest Aldi opened Thursday morning in the Pottstown Center Shopping Center at 223 Shoemaker Road, offering customers a wide-range of affordable food.
The new store occupies about half the space that was left vacant when the former Weis Grocery Store closed in 2013.
“We felt as though we could certainly support a second store in this area,” Aldi Director of Operations Shayna Winters said, referring to the Aldi at 297 Armand Hammer Blvd. in Lower Pottsgrove. “It’s a different part in the Pottstown area that I think we’re not capturing.”
To celebrate the new store, Aldi hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday morning before the store officially opened for customers. The first 100 customers received a Gold Ticket from Aldi, which entitled them to gift cards worth between $10 and $100.
Those in line also received a free, eco-friendly, reusable bag and a coupon. Customers also had the chance to sign-up to win a year’s worth of Aldi produce.
“Hopefully I’ll get something big,” Joyann Morrix said. “I just like all the things they sell. They have good quality and a good price.”
“We’re really working to be more convenient for our customers and working on being more of a one stop shop,” said Aldi District Manager Chelsea Allaband. “And this store … it definitely provides that. We have a bigger product range than maybe some of our older stores have, definitely focusing on the fresh produce.”
Aldi is continuing its low-price mission for its customers, according to Allaband. The chain doesn’t carry multiple brands of each product, which Allaband said helps reduce the company’s prices and product buying.
“Most of our products — if not all of them — are just as good, if not better than the national leading brand,” Allaband said.
In addition to the products, Aldi added under shelf lighting, which is a “brand new feature,” Allaband said.
The layout is the “newest of the new,” according to Winters.
Converting the empty space into a space to house the new store took about nine months, according to Allaband, which included repainting the building and adding new fixtures.
“If you’ve shopped at Aldi, then you know we’re certainly focused on being very efficient for our customers,” Winters said. “We do things a little bit different than I would say your traditional grocery store.”
The store also includes an “Aldi Finds” section.
“Aldi Finds are items that are typically seasonally relevant,” said Winters. “Once they are sold through, then that’s it. So, they’re kind of a limited time only.”
The white price signs denote the Aldi Finds. Yellow price signs are for items that are reordered regularly.
Winters said the store uses what they call “perforations,” instead of big, space stacking. This way, employees will be able to easily put all products on the shelf at once in their box instead of each product individually. It is simply displayed for customers as well, she said.
There are currently eight employees, but Allaband said they hope to grow that number to 15.
“All of our employees here are expected to work at a fast pace. They are crosstrained on everything,” Allaband said.
Winters added that the company has been hiring in the area, which is “really exciting for the Pottstown area.” Aldi has held hiring events for the new Pottstown store, as well as for a new store that will open in Malvern in the fall and several other area Aldi stores.
While the store officially opened at 8:45 a.m. Thursday, customers arrived much earlier.
David Dise, the first customer in line, arrived at 6 a.m. He said that he’s excited for the opening because it’s nearby.
And upon first glance, many customers seemed pleased.
“I’m a huge Aldi fan … It’s really nice to have it in our neck of the woods,” Pottsgrove resident Denise Perkins said. “I think there should be one in every city.
The Pottstown store will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday.
The new store is part of Aldi’s $3.4 billion campaign to expand to 2,500 stores nationwide by the end of 2022. The Pottstown store is one of 750 new stores being added. With the expansion, Aldi is expected to have the third largest number of stores in the U.S. In addition, the company expects to add 25,000 jobs in stores, warehouses and offices.
“We’re committed to providing Pottstown residents with a simply smarter shopping experience,” said Bob Grammer, Center Valley Division vice president for Aldi. Email business story ideas to business editor/ writer drovins@21stcenturymedia.com