Discount German grocer hits US

If Whole Foods, Walmart and other food retailers think the grocery business is tough now, they had better not peek around the corner.

Lidl, one of the largest European grocers — known for its rock-bottom prices — will next month begin a rollout of what the company said will be 100 US stores, mostly in the Southeast, by the summer of 2018.

The German retailer is promising its prices will be up to 50 percent less than those of other US supermarkets.

Lidl is dipping its toe in the US market at a time when many traditional stateside grocers are under enormous competitive pressure with declining sales — due in part to stepped-up competition from online delivery services like Amazon and FreshDirect.

Low-cost brick-and-mortar rivals like Costco — the country’s No. 1 seller of organic produce — are also giving Whole Foods and Walmart a bit of indigestion.

At a press event this week where Lidl brass showed off the chain’s products, including wine, cheeses, breads that are shipped in from France, Italy and Germany (with finishing baking done in Lidl stores) as well as packaged goods, Lidl said it is prepared to under- cut its rivals wherever it plants a flag.

Though short on pricing details, Lidl said it lowers its costs by sourcing 90 percent of its goods from private label vendors, including wineries that are making exclusive products for the grocer.

Lidl is focused on buying its real estate and building new stores of 20,000 square feet for its initial incursion — around the size of a Trader Joe’s and a bit smaller than your typical grocery store.

Lidl is exploring or has finalized up to 250 sites, including some in New Jersey, according to supermarket real estate analyst Matthew Casey.