Aldi Will Join the Mets in Queens, Hoping for a Better Season

(MoneyWatch) 

Aldi is indeed getting set to settle in Queens, with a plan to deliver its first New York store in 2010.

Now, the company only has to settle on a site. Spokesperson Heather Tarczan told Bnet that property selection is ongoing, and that Aldi had not reached a final decision on where it would initiate operations, although it has deals in hand. The major problem is that the company doesn't want to compromise on real estate. "For the most part, we prefer to own the land versus leasing it or renting it," she said.

But Queens is pretty densely settled. In fact, the borough's population of over two million tops that of all but a handful of cities in the United States. Aldi will lease if that's what's necessary to establish its presence in the borough and New York, but it's still trying to find a two to three acre piece of land at a suitable price where it can build one of its typically 17,000 square foot stores.

As for the why Queens question, Tarczan said the borough matched well with the kind of community Aldi seeks out. These days, that includes places where it has not operated previously, as geographic expansion is one of the retailer's priorities, not just filling in markets where it already operates. Aldi also seems to favor older suburbs, settle communities, neighborhoods with a mix of middle and working class residents who might have families to support and want to stretch a dollar a bit. Queens has all that.

And soon it will have Aldi, too.