Americans stressed by high grocery bills have one bright spot to look forward to in 2026. Value-minded grocery chain Aldi is coming to more cities around the country, with 180 new stores set to open in the U.S. this year.
Aldi is a compelling option for grocery shoppers on a budget. Founded in Germany, the company envisioned itself as a discount grocery store from day one. Aldi’s aggressive U.S. expansion will meet the needs of more shoppers seeking a no-frills grocery experience without compromising on quality – a niche shared by Aldi competitors like Costco and Trader Joe’s.
The budget grocery chain currently operates in 39 states across more than 2,600 stores in the U.S. By the end of 2026, it plans to add 180 new stores, with some states getting their first Aldi, including a new location in Portland, Maine. The grocer is expanding aggressively in the West in particular, with 50 stores planned for Denver and Colorado Springs alone over the next five years. Phoenix will get 10 new Aldi locations in 2026, with 40 planned by the end of 2030 and four new Las Vegas area stores are on the way in the next few years as well.
“These strategic investments are all about making sure customers can continue to count on us for the quality, affordable groceries and enjoyable shopping experience they love,” Aldi CEO Atty McGrath said in a press release. “As we look ahead to our next 50 years in the U.S., we’ll continue to earn shopper loyalty by staying true to what’s made ALDI successful: keeping things simple and delivering real value.”
Beyond the West, Aldi is pushing deeper into the Southeast U.S. through its 2024 acquisition of Southeastern Grocers, the parent company of grocery chain Winn-Dixie. The company will continue converting many of those locations into Aldi stores, with 200 set to be finished by the end of next year.
Aldi builds its brand
As America’s fastest-growing grocer, Aldi is focused on entering new markets, but the company is also refining aspects of its brand in the process.
Late last year, Aldi began putting its own brand on its in-house products, communicating more clearly with customers that they can only buy many of the things they enjoy at Aldi. “Private label is the core of what we do,” Scott Patton, Aldi’s chief commercial officer, told Fast Company. “I’m not going to say we invented it; I would say we’ve perfected it.”
More than 90% of the grocer’s offerings are private label, but that fact isn’t always apparent to shoppers – a problem the company plans to solve. “The overall sentiment was, on average, customers didn’t know that was an Aldi brand,” Kristy Reitz, Aldi’s director of brand and design, told Fast Company. “Now if they shop us a little less frequently, they think they can find that brand elsewhere, and in fact it’s a private-label brand to Aldi.”
The K-shaped economy and Aldi
Aldi’s booming business isn’t a coincidence. Its stores command a loyal following by combining high quality with affordability, but it’s the latter that’s really weighing on the minds of U.S. shoppers right now.
According to a poll by the Associated Press last year, an overwhelming majority of American households are worried about the high cost of groceries. Around half of people polled said that the high cost of groceries was a “major” stressor, with only 14% reporting that they weren’t worried about how much they pay to stock the fridge.
No matter what you call it, rich Americans are getting richer while much of the rest of the country is struggling to make ends meet. That “K-shaped” economy is taking shape in a number of ways, but the crux of it is that lower and middle income consumers are wrestling with a higher cost of living taking a bigger bite out of their earnings while the wealthiest Americans, buoyed by stock market highs, just keep spending.
Because the cost of basic needs like food and housing has soared in recent years and American wages haven’t kept up, many people in the U.S. feel left in the lurch. That leaves a lot of potential Aldi shoppers hunting for deals on the essentials.
Other stripped down discount shopping options are also booming. Costco’s share price has more than doubled since the current inflationary streak began, with shoppers flocking en masse into its warehouses to stock up on high quality, low markup goods and groceries.
It’s no surprise that refreshingly non-predatory brands are inspiring small armies of devoted followers who evangelize about the good deals they find. People stressed about their grocery bills have found a safe haven with stores like Aldi and Costco – and for anyone who isn’t, there’s always Erewhon.
