Aldi to Open 2nd Pensacola, Fla., Store on May 5

Less than a month since opening its first Pensacola, Fla., store, Aldi is at it again. The no-frills German discount grocery chain said it will open its second Pensacola store on May 5.

The Batavia, Ill.-based chain said its newest store will be located at 4830 Mobile Hwy. To celebrate the store opening Aldi said it will host a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 9 a.m. May 5.

Aldi, which prides itself on a business model that is intentionally different, said the new store is part of the retailer’s aggressive expansion plan to become the third-largest U.S. grocery retailer by store count by the end of this year.

“In Florida, we will operate more than 180 stores with the opening of the new Pensacola store, and we have plans to open over 20 new stores this year,” Heather Moore, Loxley regional VP for Aldi, told WGB in an email.

Loxley said Aldi stores are designed to make grocery shopping  “smarter, faster and easier, and we’ve been voted the price leader for five years running. We are excited to offer easy access to affordable fresh food and household essentials, as well as a great selection of regional items. Our new Gulf Coast locations will carry local favorites such as Tony Chachere’s Creole Seasoning, Crystal’s Hot Sauce, Blue Plate Mayonnaise, Blue Bell Ice Cream and Luzianne Sweet Tea.”

Aldi said it plans to give the first 100 customers a gift bag filled with a sampling of Aldi Fan Favorites products and a gift card as part of its Golden Ticket gift card giveaway program. Aldi said shoppers will also have a chance enter a sweepstakes for a chance to win a $500 Aldi gift card.

As part of its monthly survey, retail sales data firm IRI said it's no surprise that 95% of shoppers are concerned about food cost and inflation. Compared to a year ago, IRI found 90% of shoppers perceive the cost of groceries and household items to be higher now. In an open letter on Aldi’s website titled "Our Price Promise," Aldi U.S. CEO Jason Hart recently addressed rising food costs by telling Aldi shoppers, “No matter what happens in the world around us, Aldi will always be the low-price leader in every community we serve.”

Echoing Hart's statements, Loxley told WGB that “we at ALDI promise to continue to offer our shoppers nationwide the lowest possible prices on our products, no matter what is going on in the world around us, and that promise will never waver.”

And it seems shoppers are listening. According to a new report from foot traffic analytics firm Placer.ai, during March 2022, visits to Aldi locations were up 8% year over year and up 6.1% compared to March 2019, before the pandemic. The report said Aldi’s deepened foot traffic boils down to the “ability to offer high-quality products at significantly lower price points.”