SEBASTIAN – ALDI, the popular grocery chain from Germany, has an interest in the Sebastian and Vero Beach market.
Since last year, ALDI has told Sebastian Daily that it has no plans to build a grocery store in Sebastian, Florida. This rumor won’t go away.
While they still do not have plans to build here at this time, the area is of significant interest to the company.
On Tuesday, a company spokesperson told us they were exploring all opportunities to bring a store closest to shoppers that can support high volume.
“We look forward to sharing news as plans develop. When it comes to choosing store locations, we look at many factors. We want the best sites that are closest to our shoppers and can support a high daily traffic volume,” ALDI Vice President Chris Hewitt told Sebastian Daily.
There’s an ALDI in Palm Bay and Ft. Pierce. We have several grocery stores in the area, although Publix has dominated the market.
“As the demand for ALDI grows, so do our real estate options. Bottom line, we want to be conveniently located for our shoppers,” Hewitt added.
Last month, there was the rumor that Starbucks, T.J. Maxx, and ALDI were going to be tenants in a new shopping plaza that would be built on the property where Shady Rest Mobile Home Park is currently.
We can’t confirm that a new shopping plaza is being built for large chains in Sebastian, but we do know that Starbucks and T.J. Maxx don’t have any plans. But the ALDI name keeps coming up.
Sebastian already has three large Publix stores in the area. Unless ALDI has something that these stores don’t have, it may be challenging to convert loyal shoppers from Publix.
There’s also the question on whether the population from Micco, Fellsmere, Sebastian, and Vero Beach could be enough to build an ALDI. If the store is in Sebastian, would people from Vero Beach drive to Sebastian for groceries? They have plenty of options down south, including the Walmart Neighborhood Market.
We do know that there are people in Sebastian making the drive up to Palm Bay to shop at ALDI. Some customers who shop at ALDI say they love the store and the prices.
This reminds me of the Burger King rumors when the chain denied building another restaurant. We later found out they were building one in Roseland.
We’ll know in time whether ALDI is going to build a grocery store in Sebastian or Vero Beach.
