A major national grocer known for its discount prices just set its eyes on Colorado. Aldi is expanding to the Centennial State with about 50 stores within two years, according to a news release on Monday. It also plans to build a distribution center in Aurora by 2029. It’ll open stores in th e Denver and Colorado Springs markets, the grocer said, but it’s not yet clear where the first store will be located. The popular German discount chain is one of the fastest-growing grocery chains in the U.S. It may have attempted to enter the Colorado market earlier by bidding to buy Safeway stores amid the Kroger-Albertsons merger divestiture, according to testimony during Colorado’s antitrust court proceedings, but failed as Kroger selected CS Wholesale Grocers instead (before the whole merger fell apart in court). Inside an Aldi store. (Courtesy photo, Aldi) Several grocery executives said throughout the trial in 2024 that they feared that Aldi could soon become another competitor in the state. When on the stand, former Kroger CEO Rodney McMullen said in Denver District Court that several new-format stores were taking customers from the traditional grocer. Those competitors include Amazon, Walmart, Trader Joe’s and Sprouts, he said. Lidl and Aldi weren’t in the state yet, but they were keeping an eye on their entrance, too. Aldi has primarily focused on growing along the East Coast. Entering Colorado will boost its presence in the Western U.S. The grocer said it plans to grow its footprint in the U.S. to about 2,800 stores by the end of 2026. By 2028, it hopes to get to 3,200 stores. It plans to open three distribution centers in three years, including the one in Colorado. The other two will be in Baldwin, Fla. and Goodyear, Ariz. The grocer said it expects each center will bring “hundreds of new jobs to each of the regions.” “One in three U.S. households shopped at Aldi this past year, and in 2026 we’re focused on making it even easier for customers to shop our aisles first,” said Atty McGrath, CEO of Aldi U.S., in the news release. McGrath said the company plans to bring Aldi to more neighborhoods, open new distribution centers and upgrade its website as part of its expansion strategy. Inside an Aldi store. (Courtesy photo, Aldi) COLORADO ONE OF LAST STATES TO GET CHAIN Aldi has a presence in 39 states and Washington D.C., with the most stores in Florida, Illinois, New York, Texas and California. Colorado was one of 11 states without an Aldi store yet. Other states include Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Maine, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. Aldi was the top national brand people in Colorado wanted to see open in the state most, according to a survey from MarketBeat released in September. But Maine will beat Colorado as Aldi’s 40th state, as the grocer said it aims to open a store in Portland this year. In its announcement, Aldi also said it plans to expand its efforts in Phoenix and Las Vegas as part of its westward expansion. The grocer plans to open 10 stores in the Phoenix metro area this year and 40 more by 2030. Aldi debuted four stores in Las Vegas last year and they were “incredibly successful,” the grocer said. It plans to double its presence within four years. The grocery chain has several requirements on where to open a store. It needs about 22,000 square feet of space with at least 95 parking spots, according to its website. It also has to be within three miles of a “dense trade area population” with a daily traffic count of about 20,000 vehicles per day. Trader Joe’s in Colorado Springs. (The Gazette, Christian Murdock) TRADER JOE’S AND ALDI ARE RELATED, SORT OF The chain is known for its private labels, shipping box displays, cheap deals and requiring shoppers to use a quarter when borrowing a shopping cart. Aldi was founded in Germany in the 1960s by Theo and Karl Albrecht, though the two brothers split the company on geographical boundaries. Aldi Nord ran stores in North Germany and Aldi Sud focused on the south. Aldi U.S. is the American subsidiary of Aldi Sud, which opened its first store in 1976 in Iowa and is headquartered in Batavia, Ill. Trader Joe’s is owned by the family who runs Aldi Nord. Could there be a family reunion one day? Possibly. The two Aldi companies in Germany have been getting closer recently and may have been having secret merger discussions last year, according to reporting from German newspaper WirtschaftsWoche. ...read more read less