Lidl to open new store in Maryland

Hard discounter Lidl will open a new store in Bethesda, Maryland, the company confirmed with WGB on Monday.

The march into Maryland will add to the 21 existing locations throughout the state, according to the Arlington, Virginia-based grocer's website. This will be Lidl’s first location in Bethesda and will be located at 7625 Old Georgetown Rd.

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

Last year, Lidl opened its first Baltimore location, in Northwoods Commons, bringing fresh food to a corner of the city that has struggled as a food desert. The grocery store, which is located in the northeast corner of Baltimore and anchored by Morgan State University, was much-anticipated by a population that “has been waiting for decades to have a first-rate supermarket in our community," Morgan State President Dr. David K. Wilson said in a statement.

Maryland is also home to Lidl’s 700,000-square-foot regional headquarters and distribution center, located in Cecil County. Looking to continue its warehouse expansion, Lidl also confirmed to WGB on Monday that it recently purchased a site for a future warehouse in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. 

Lidl’s growth up and down the East Coast also took place last month as the grocer opened its largest and first ground-up build on Long Island, New York. Located in Deer Park on Long Island at 450 Commack Road, Lidl invested over $12 million for this store, which is Lidl’s 24th location on Long Island. Looking to enhance its eco-friendly solutions, the approximately 36,000-square-foot store is the discount grocer’s first store in New York to use CO2 natural refrigerant as well as to install EV charging stations.

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.