Budget supermarket Lidl has published a list of more than 1,000 towns and cities across the UK where it might open new stores – along with a reward for anyone who helps it
Budget supermarket Lidl is offering members of the public a chunk of money to find spots for new stores.
The grocer has published a list of more than 1,000 places across the UK where it could potentially open branches. They stretch from Inverness and Ellon in Scotland, to St Ives in Cornwall and Ryde on the Isle of Wight, as well as in Wales and Northern Ireland.
Despite having its owns property teams, as well as agents around the country, Lidl says it wants shoppers’ help too.
As an added perks, the retailer is offering a finder’s fee to anyone who successfully identifies a previously unknown site that leads to a developed store. The amount is worth 1.5% of how much the store’s freehold was bought for, or 10% of the first year’s rent on a leasehold.
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Reports from 2022 said the finder’s fee available at the time could have been worth £22,500 on finding a £1.5million freehold site that Lidl bought outright.
Lidl was asked whether any members of the public have actually bagged that sort of bumper sum, given there are property agents whose job it is to find such sites. A spokeswoman claimed: “We wouldn’t be able to provide specifics on individuals or partners involved in site introductions as those arrangements are commercially sensitive.”
And while the German-owned chain Lidl may have the more than 1,000 sites in mind for new stores, as well as relocating existing branches from nearby, it is unlikely to be opening most any time soon.
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Lidl, part of the Schwarz retail group, has more than 1,000 UK stores already – it reached the milestone with a store in East Grinstead last November – and is adding more than 50 over the next 12 months as part of a £600m expansion.
Lidl’s brochure for new sites includes 65 in Scotland; 49 in North East England; 71 in Yorkshire and Humber; 62 in Greater Manchester and the surrounding area; 52 in North Wales, Merseyside, and the west of Cheshire; 72 in Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire and east Cheshire; 47 in south and mid Wales; 80 in central England; 69 in eastern England; 43 in Bristol, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, and parts of Somerset; 69 in the Home Counties north of London; 139 in north London; 102 in south London; 42 in south and west Somerset, Devon and Cornwall; 56 towards the south coast of England; and 61 in Kent, East Sussex and East Surrey.
Richard Taylor, chief real estate officer at Lidl GB, said: “We currently have one of the most ambitious store opening programmes of any supermarket and we are more committed than ever to bringing our high quality and low priced products to even more communities across the country.
“All of our stores deliver more than just affordable products. Each one also brings quality jobs, opportunities for British suppliers to showcase the best of our home grown produce and support to local good causes in the communities each one serves. In uncertain times, shoppers and communities can count on us.”
