The trend: Value-focused grocers are expanding aggressively as consumers become more cost-conscious.
- Aldi plans to open more than 225 US stores this year—including in Midtown Manhattan—bringing its total to about 2,600 by year-end. That would make it the third-largest US supermarket chain by store count, behind Walmart and Kroger.
- Trader Joe’s has announced 41 store openings this year. That follows 34 locations in 2024, which was roughly triple 2023’s total and more than five times 2022 openings.
- Lidl has opened 10 stores so far in 2025, with the most locations concentrated in the Washington, DC, metro and tri-state areas.
Why is this happening? While grocery prices were up just 2.2% YoY in July, rising inflation and a challenging macroeconomic climate have shoppers laser-focused on value.
- Those pressures—compounded by the lingering effects of COVID-era inflation—are pushing more consumers toward private labels. A majority of US shoppers (56%) now buy them regularly, per First Insight. And sales rose 4.4% YoY in the first half, far outpacing national brands’ 1.1% growth, per the Private Label Manufacturers Association. Unit sales tell the same story, with private labels rising 0.4% and national brands slipping 0.6%.
- Aldi, Trader Joe’s, and Lidl are each well known for leaning into their broad, differentiated private-label portfolios to stand out from traditional grocers.
- The payoff from the strategy is evident in foot traffic; Aldi visits rose 7.1% YoY, Trader Joe’s 11.9%, and Lidl 4.9% in the first half, all well above the grocery segment’s 1.8%, per Placer.ai.
Our take: Consumers are responding to the strong value propositions offered by Aldi, Trader Joe’s, and Lidl. Not only do shoppers trust they’ll get a good deal when they walk through the door, they also expect an element of discovery—unique products, limited-time offerings, and private-label lines not available elsewhere.
For competitors, the playbook is clear: Double down on value while elevating private labels from carbon copies of national brands to distinctive brands in their own right. Doing so not only protects margins in a price-sensitive environment but also deepens customer loyalty by offering products that shoppers can’t find anywhere else.