National retail chain expands through renovation, ground-up construction.
ALDI Grocery Stores is becoming a more prevalent brand throughout southeast Louisiana and Mississippi as it looks to expand into new communities. What initially started as building new, ground-up stores, the international chain has pivoted to a conversion program - a process by which it acquires recently closed grocery stores of other brands in key locations and renovates the existing building to its specifications.
ALDI needed a partner to for this expansion program, and that’s where we came in. To-date, our team has completed four stores, including a renovation in Slidell, two ground-up facilities in Baton Rouge, and several conversions starting with the Metairie location.
Square Footage
72,430 (total)
Completion
Avg. 4 mo. (2022-2024)
Owner
Aldi, Inc.
Architect
Project Location
Slidell, LA
The Pilot Project
The first store to be completed was the renovation of an existing free-standing Toys R Us building into a 13,000-square-foot sales floor and 17,000 SF of coolers, freezers, and “back of house” warehouse space.
This facility also includes a training center for ALDI to train new hires for their ongoing Louisiana and Mississippi expansion facilities.
In addition to the building renovation, the project included all new storm drainage and stormwater management, new parking lot, new light poles, and a new ALDI pylon sign.
Conversion Process: Four Months
Our conversion process for ALDI is a four-month process. First, the previous retail space is fully gutted and any existing equipment is removed. Demolition is typically one month. With interior renovations completed, all owner-provided equipment and proprietary magnetic flooring system is installed. Following State Fire Marshall inspection, the new ALDI is open to the public.
