Lidl closed 11 stores on Sunday

Lidl US closed 11 grocery stores in the eastern part of the country on Sunday, some of which had been open for less than two years.

The German-owned hard discounter, which previously reported five store closures, declined to confirm the full number of closures in an email to WGB. The expanded list of Lidl shutters was first compiled in an article Monday by the U.K.-based Daily Mail.  

But local reports, Google search and Lidl’s website show that nearly a dozen of the grocer’s stores in the Carolinas, Virginia, New Jersey, Maryland and Pennsylvania closed their doors on Sunday.

"After a thorough review of the performance of our store network, we made the difficult decision to close a small number of stores on July 16," a Lidl spokesperson said via email. "These were underperforming locations, and we made the strategic decision to close these stores so we can focus on the locations that are closer and more convenient to more of our customers and where we are seeing significant growth. We appreciate the contributions team members in the stores have made and want them to be part of our growing network of stores. We are offering all employees a position at another Lidl store in the area and are working closely with them on the transition."

Here are the Lidl stores confirmed to have closed on Sunday:

6111 Livingston Road; Oxon Hill, Maryland

5722 Ritchie Highway; Brooklyn Park, Maryland

4250 US-9; Howell Township, New Jersey

1801 Mt. Holly Road; Burlington Township, New Jersey

2741 Highway 55; Cary, North Carolina

1147 Randolph St.; Thomasville, North Carolina

125 W. Dekalb Pike; King of Prussia, Pennsylvania

417 E. Marintown Road; North Augusta, South Carolina

2205 W. Palmetto St.; Florence, South Carolina

750 Twentyninth Place Ct.; Charlottesville, Virginia

12151 W. Broad St.; Richmond, Virginia

Most of the stores now show up as “permanently closed” on Google search or the locations return a “404. That’s an error” message on Lidl’s website.

Some of the stores had not been open long. The King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, store, for example, opened about 18 months ago.

A note posted on the door of the Florence, South Carolina, location, as photographed in a local newspaper, reads, “Florence, we have loved serving you! It’s been a pleasure being a part of your community and (we) are sad to say goodbye. This location will be closing on 7/16.”

In February, Lidl laid off about 200 workers at its U.S. headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, saying it was “continually evaluating our operations to ensure we are supporting our stores effectively.”

Lidl, owned by the Schwarz Group, was founded in Ludwigshafen, Germany, in 1973 and established its U.S. headquarters in 2015. Lidl opened its first U.S grocery store in 2017 and now operates more than 170 locations across Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Washington, D.C., Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and New York.

The grocer is slated to open a new store in Lorton, Virginia, on July 26.

This story has been updated with a comment from Lidl US.