Aldi is now the third-largest grocer in the US, based on store count

Retail news that keeps industry pros in the knowRetail Brew delivers the latest retail industry news and insights surrounding marketing, DTC, and e-commerce to keep leaders and decision-makers up to date.Walmart still holds the throne as the nation’s leading grocer, but competitors are storming the kingdom’s aisles. After Kroger, Aldi was recently crowned the nation’s third-largest grocer by store count, according to data from the commercial real estate firm JLL.The German company was the fastest-growing grocery chain in the US last year, based on both the number of new stores opened and the square footage of those 88 locations. The stores take up over 2.2 million square feet of space. Meanwhile, new Publix locations in 2021 accounted for a mere 1.3 million square feet.Lidl, another German grocer, has been leaning into its own US expansion.Sizing up: Aldi stepped up its US expansion plans back in 2017, and the grocery chain is seeing the fruits of its labor. That year, Aldi announced a...