Lidl buying 6 Shoppers Food & Pharmacy stores from UNFI

Hard discount grocer Lidl is acquiring six Shoppers Food & Pharmacy from United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI) stores, following Friday’s announcement that UNFI reached deals to sell 13 of its 43 Shoppers Food & Pharmacy stores to three grocery operators.

Crystal City, Va.-based Lidl US, a division of the German retail chain, will purchase five Shoppers locations in Maryland, in Annapolis, Oxon Hill, Brooklyn Park, Takoma Park and Wheaton. In Virginia, Lidl will take over a location in Burke.

“We will be making significant investments in the redevelopment of these sites,” said Chandler Ebeier, a spokesperson for Lidl US, “and will have more to share in terms of the grand-opening timeline at the end of next year.” The company now has 65 stores across the East Coast and plans to open a total of 25 new stores by spring 2020. Lidl currently has about a dozen stores in Maryland and Virginia.

Other Shoppers stores in Maryland have  been purchased in Waldorf by McKay’s and in Capitol Heights and Landover by Compare Foods.

UNFI said Friday that it also plans to close four other Shoppers stores, with those locations slated to close their doors by the end of January.

With the sales and closings, the Shoppers banner will be left with 26 locations. UNFI said those stores will remain open while it continues to seek buyers for them. Earlier this year, UNFI closed Shoppers’ 30 in-store pharmacies and sold their prescription files and pharmacy inventories to CVS Pharmacy and Walgreens. Founded in 1929, Shoppers serves the Baltimore, northern Virginia communities and District of Columbia markets.

Related:UNFI to sell 13 Shoppers Food & Pharmacy stores