A large multi-thousand-square-foot, non-union discount supermarket opened in Queens in February with some applause – but more importantly – with no opposition. Politicians and unions alike did not wring their hands and warn of doom, gloom and catastrophe when the German retailer, Aldi – short for Albrecht Discount – opened its first New York City location at 61-11 Junction Boulevard in Rego Park.
Ironically, Aldi opened in the exact mall where Walmart had been in negotiations to open its first city location, and while it is not a big box store, it does represent the same kind of threat to local merchants as does Walmart.
Aldi’s prices are up to 45 percent less than those of traditional food stores in the area. Along with wide aisles Aldi offers wide discounts on its 1,400 Aldi Select brand products.
The New York Times reported that Aldi opened its national store in 1976, is a privately held, non-union discount – deep discount – chain with over 1,000 stores in the United State and more than 8,000 worldwide that sacrifices name brands to attract bargain hunters.
The City Council has made giant national retailer Walmart feel unwanted for doing the same kind of discounting. Unions have lobbied long and hard to keep the largest employer in the United States out of the five boroughs. Studies have been done, polls have been done.
Wisely, Walmart has changed its business model for large urban areas.
As reported in The Wall Street Journal, the superstore chain will begin its push to open hundreds of smaller stores in urban and rural locations under the moniker Walmart Express.
New stores could be opened within a 15,000-square-foot space as opposed to the 185,000-square-feet of an average Walmart supercenter.
Walmart hopes the Express outlets – which will have a convenience-style store appearance – will help them break into city.
There are already 200 Walmart Markets in the rest of the country that are about 42,000-square-feet, each carry groceries and varied merchandise.
As Aldi plans to open two more outlets in the next 12 months, we hope our independent Queens realtors will be glad to lease to Walmart Expresses or even the larger Markets.
Business thrives on competition – not on intervention.
