Lidl opens 2nd Washington, D.C., grocery store

Lidl US opened its newest store in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday in the Columbia Heights neighborhood.

The 27,000-square-foot store, located inside the D.C. USA shopping complex at 3100 14th St. NW, employs close to 50 workers, with starting pay of $19 an hour and comprehensive benefits for all employees, including health care, the grocer said. 

“Our community was incredibly excited to welcome the District’s first Lidl to Ward 7 last year, and now we are excited to welcome our second Lidl to Ward 1,” said Mayor Muriel Bowser in a statement. “Our focus has been—and continues to be—on increasing access to fresh, healthy and affordable groceries, and that is what Lidl is helping us do. With this opening, we celebrate more food options and more jobs for D.C. residents.”

This is the second location in Washington, D.C. for the Arlington, Virginia-based discount grocer.

In September, Lidl US opened at 2224 Town Center Dr. SE in Washington D.C., in the Skyland Town Center in Southeast D.C. The store is the first full-service grocery store to open in Wards 7 and 8 in more than a decade.

Lidl US is also eyeing growth just northwest of the nation’s capital in Bethesda, Maryland. This will be Lidl’s first location in Bethesda and will be located at 7625 Old Georgetown Rd.

In February, the grocer told WGB it is in the "early planning phase" for the site and did not yet have an opening date to announce. 

Lidl, which opened its U.S. headquarters in Arlington County, Virginia, in 2015, now operates more than 170 stores across Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and New York.