New grocery store coming to Lakewood Ranch. It’s known for its no-frills stores
A planned Aldi store at Lakewood Ranch would be the community’s third grocery brand.
The new grocery would be located on the southeast corner of the intersection of University Parkway and Lorraine Road, directly across the street from one of Publix’s newest stores.
A permit filed Jan. 8 with the Sarasota County Building Department requested approval for construction of the site, a parking lot with 103 spaces, landscaping and drainage.
The owner is listed as BW University Lorraine LLC of Tampa.
Both the exisiting Publix and the planned Aldi are positioned to serve Lakewood Ranch’s huge Waterside development south of University Parkway in Sarasota County. Eventually, Waterside is expected to have 5,144 residential units.
The town center for the new village, called Waterside Place, is nearing completion.
Aldi, a no-frills company founded by the Albrecht family, opened its first store in Germany 1961, making it one of the world’s first discounters.
The company has about 2,000 stores in 36 states and projects that it will become the third-largest grocery retailer in the United States by 2022.
Aldi has stores in Bradenton at 4525 53rd Ave. E., , 5715 14th St. W., and 4705 Cortez Road, and in Palmetto at 605 10th St. E.
Aldi also has stores at 3501 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, and 1235 N. Tamiami Trail in Nokomis.
Lakewood Ranch is served by five Publix stores, and one Winn Dixie.
Asked about the planned Lakewood Ranch store on Thursday, Matt Thon, Haines City Division vice president for ALDI, released a statement:
“At this time, we do not have any information to share about a potential new Aldi store in Lakewood Ranch. However, as you may have seen, as one of America’s fastest-growing retailers, Aldi is expanding rapidly across the country, and we’re continuing to identify possible new store locations that will best meet the needs of our customers. We will be sure to keep you updated on any developments about Aldi stores in your area.”
This story was originally published March 19, 2021 at 2:41 PM.
