Lidl Planning ‘Aggressive Expansion’ In Ireland

Namnews, 6th December 2021

Lidl is planning to open many more new stores in Ireland than the 20 it has already announced, with it on track to reach the 200 mark in the next two years.

Under the discounter’s current development plan for the country, another three stores will open in Dublin this month, taking it to 174 sites.

Speaking to the Irish Independent, Kevin Duffy, Lidl Ireland’s director of property, construction and central services, revealed that the business was in the early stages of planning and developing many more stores. “We’re not going to rest at 20 more stores,” he said. “Let’s just say, there is lots of room for expansion,” pointing to north Dublin as a key target due to a major housing development.

“We will definitely break the 200-store mark in the next couple of years,” Duffy said. “There will be very aggressive expansion as the population continues to grow.”

In July, Lidl announced a three-year plan for the Republic of Ireland to invest €550m in building 20 new stores and refurbishing 24 existing stores. A similar level of investment would continue beyond that plan, Duffy revealed.

“There are many more [sites] where we are at the early stages of either negotiating or looking at development plans, looking at zoning plans, speaking with the various developers that we’ve built up relationships with,” he said.

Lidl has a 12.7% share of the Irish grocery market but Duffy said there was no reason why it could not close the gap with the big three – SuperValu, Tesco and Dunnes – which are all above 20%.

Duffy highlighted that the biggest stumbling block to its expansion plans was the local planning system. “That’s probably the biggest challenge,” he said. “We look to engage with our local communities from the very early stages. But you’re going to have objections, some from locals, some from competitors, and that just slows the process.

“It is fair and reasonable that where people have concerns that we will absolutely take them on board and try to work with them. But I would hate to think that the planning system is being used in an anti-competitive manner. We don’t object to our competitors, but we have had competitors object to planning we’ve lodged.”

NAM Implications:

• Take this as a warning shot…
• Given public demand and Lidl’s growth history in Ireland.
• Planning issues will simply slow the process…
• …slightly