VIROQUA, Wis. – City of Viroqua Mayor Justin Running confirmed today that a new ALDI grocery store will be built in Viroqua by the end of 2024. In a phone interview Running said he cannot release a lot of details yet but said he has been working with the real estate division of the worldwide company for months, and they are in the final stages of a deal to bring a store to Viroqua.
Running said the new store will be built on the 5.4 acre vacant lot just south of the entrance to Walmart on State Highway 14/Main Street, and construction is expected to start in the coming weeks.
With the recent closure of Quillin’s grocery store shoppers were asking if
another grocery outlet would fill that spot in Vernon Square, but the company
has a history of building new stores and recently announced it plans to invest
about $9 billion to build 800 new stores in the U.S. in the next five years
with about 300 of them in the Midwest. The company currently has about 2,400 stores in the United States.
ALDI is a German company that started after World War II and has expanded
worldwide using a model of high quality at discount prices. Industry articles
related to the recent spike in grocery prices combined with the federal government’s
focus on cracking down on price gouging indicate the company may be in a sweet
spot of quality, selection, and pricing.
There is no indication of how big the store will be but their stores average around 12,000 square feet. At that size their stores are much smaller than a typical US supermarket of about 40,000 square feet, and more than 90% of the brands Aldi sells are its own private labels.
Running said he worked closely with company representatives over the last
several months to clear some hurdles to make the deal happen, but he said he is
pleased that consumers will have another choice.
“I think with the closing of the Quillin’s store people were worried about the
options,” said Running. “I knew this was a possibility, but we had to
solve a couple of things and now I am confident I can say we will have an ALDI by the end
of 2024. I think this will be a good fit with the choices people already
have.”
Great news. Thanks for your good reporting.
Too bad they can’t remodel the old Quillins. It seems so wasteful to build and then let some other building stand empty.
Where do you apply for a job at the new ALDIs in Viroqua
You might want to call city hall at 608-637-7186 or the Viroqua Chamber at 608-637-2575