A tale of two Aldis

German discount grocer Aldi delighted some Chicago area residents earlier this month with a new location and drew the ire of others with a store closure. 

Residents of the Chicago suburb of Forest Park lined up on Nov. 7 to get their first look at the no-frills grocery chain that was previously occupied by a Bed, Bath & Beyond retail store, which closed in March 2023, according to a story in the Forest Park Review. 

Residents called the new store, located at 215 Harlem Ave., a game changer for the village and voiced their excitement about having a new affordable option, the story noted. 

But it was a different story in the Far South Side neighborhood of West Pullman, where an Aldi location closed abruptly three days later, according to Block Club Chicago. 

That comes about a month after Aldi closed a location in the North Side Chicago neighborhood of Lincoln Park. 

“Aldi will continue to provide residents with great products at the lowest possible prices at our more than 30 stores across the city of Chicago,” Aldi said in an email to Block Club Chicago in September. “We remain committed to making a positive impact on every community we serve.”

The grocery chain, which has its U.S. headquarters located in nearby Batavia, Ill., told Supermarket News in an email on Thursday that the closures of the West Pullman and Lincoln Park stores were “unique situations and not indicative of any larger trends."

"Aldi will continue to proudly serve the Chicago metropolitan area at our more than 150 stores, including more than 30 within the city of Chicago, as well as our distribution center and headquarters in Batavia, Illinois," the grocery chain said in the email. "Aldi employs nearly 6,000 people in the area while offering highly competitive pay and benefits. 

"In fact, we recently announced our intention to hire more than 13,000 associates as we embark on our most ambitious growth plans yet, aiming to open 800 new stores by the end of 2028. " 

Chicago Ald. Ronnie Mosley told Block Club that Aldi promised him and residents that it had no plans to close the West Pullman location at 821 W. 115th St., adding that their assurance “has now been broken.”

An Aldi spokesperson could not immediately be reached for comment. 

The Aldi closure in West Pullman followed the recent opening of a nearby Save A Lot grocery store in West Pullman at 10700 S. Halsted Street. That Save A Lot is one of six Save A Lot stores, owned by Cleveland, Ohio-based Yellow Banana, that were renovated across the city. 
Chicago agreed to pay Yellow Banana $13.5 million in subsidies to rehab the six stores, some of which had closed and fallen into disrepair.