A new Aldi grocery store is set to open July 12, in Indian Trail, the retailer's 17th store in the area.
There is a ribbon-cutting and open house (with samples!) Wednesday, July 11, from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the store. But the store doesn't officially open for business until 9 a.m. the following day.
Aldi (which is owned by the same company that owns Trader Joe's) has made its name as a low-price, no-frills grocery store. Aldi, like Trader Joe's, has fewer items than a full-size supermarket in stock, but focuses on the most popular, quickest-selling goods.
The chain uses such touches as making people pay a quarter to unlock a shopping carts so that they have to bring the cart back and lock the cart in to get their quarter back (saving the store from assign someone to chase carts in the parking lot).
According to the research firm Chain Store Guide, which tracks store sales, last year Aldi had about 2 percent of the Charlotte region's grocery market. That makes it the region's No. 9 grocery retailer, ranked by market share.
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