Major Grocer Reveals Expansion Plans for 2025 – Is Texas Included

I think it's a safe bet to say the grocery stores from Abilene to Zavalla and anywhere in between in Texas will be busy today. We've got to get ready for the Texas Bowl in Houston and the Sun Bowl in El Paso. Then there is a matter of the Texas Longhorns and the Arizona State Sun Devils at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta too. So needless to say there is a need for groceries and celebratory beverages.

And for a lot of us, that means a trip to our favorite grocery store. I mean, you are going to get snacks too, right?

Chances are if you are like 54% of Americans and 63% of Texas shoppers you have a grocery store that you consider to be "yours". It's the store where you do most of your shopping. You know where most of the items you need are located. You are friendly with the checkout crew and the management. And you despise the self-checkout because it always thinks you are stealing. Okay, maybe that last one is just for me.

The main deciding factor in where we shop and who we shop with comes down to one very important factor, convenience. Is the store located close to where I need to go and are they open hours when I need to go there? Very few shoppers bounce from market to market simply because of price. They might jump for a special deal but overall we have our grocery store that we like and that's why we shop there.

A newcomer to the Texas grocery scene is the Albrecht Discounts brand. Okay, they opened their first store in Texas in 2011 and you probably know them better by their more public persona which is Aldi. The German-owned company stocks mainly house brand products and is known around the world for offering some of the lowest prices on those items.

In Texas, there are currently 128 Aldi stores in operation. In many cases, an Aldi store has opened where an old Winn-Dixie used to be. That's not always the case but it's true for quite a few locations. And apparently, Aldi is acquiring more of those locations and adding a few more new stores of their own.

The grocery store chain announced plans earlier this year that it was acquiring another 400 Winn-Dixie and Harvey's Supermarkets across the country. And this will mean several new stores across the country.

Alabama will be getting five new locations, Florida will add another three, Missouri will add two more Aldi's, and Mississippi, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Wisconsin will each be adding one additional store.

From what we've read there are plans to increase the number of Aldi locations in Louisiana from 17 to 28 based on the available information. However, we do not have details of where those locations would be.

We haven't been able to confirm any details of new store openings in Texas at all. We do know the stores in the nine states we mentioned earlier are confirmed. And it is possible that more Texas locations could be added but maybe not this calendar year.

Our suggestion is if you want to play detective, look around for an abandoned Winn-Dixie. If it looks as if it's still in good shape that could be a candidate as Aldi continues its expansion across the southeast and eastern portion of the country.