Lidl plans discount supermarket at mall that already has Aldi store
A shopper chooses produce at the Lidl store in Center Moriches. Credit: Randee Daddona
Discount grocer Lidl plans to open a store in Valley Stream on Green Acres Mall property, where another off-price supermarket, Aldi, already is located.
Where exactly Lidl will be situated is unclear, since the space it was approved for is already occupied by a tenant that says it has no plans to leave.
The Hempstead Industrial Development Agency’s board on Tuesday approved Lidl’s sublease with the mall’s owner, The Macerich Co., a real estate investment trust based in Santa Monica, California.
The IDA holds title to the 2.1-million-square-foot mall, including its adjacent shopping center, Green Acres Commons, because the property operates under a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement, or PILOT, the agency approved in 2015. So, Macerich, which is considered to be leasing the property, must get the IDA’s approval for all tenants' subleases at Green Acres.
The Lidl grocery store will occupy a 22,789-square-foot space and employ 43 people earning an average of $26.62 an hour, according to a letter Macerich sent to the IDA that appears with the board documents on the agency's website.
Macerich would not disclose any information to Newsday about the planned Lidl store.
“We don’t have anything to share at this time,” Macerich spokeswoman Karen Maurer said.
A Germany-based retailer with U.S. headquarters in Virginia, Lidl declined to give specifics on its plans.
"Our team is looking at a number of sites on Long Island and it is too early to give details on any specific ones," Lidl spokeswoman Chandler Spivey said.
The Lidl will be located in a freestanding building, at 650 Sunrise Hwy., on the mall property, according to the Macerich letter.
But the building at that address currently is fully occupied by a Michaels arts and crafts store.
There are no plans for the Michaels store to close or relocate, a spokeswoman for the Irving, Texas-based retailer told Newsday.
The IDA did not respond to Newsday's inquiries about how Lidl could be approved to sublease an occupied building whose tenant says it is not leaving.
About 1,050 feet from Michaels is an Aldi, which opened at 750 Sunrise Hwy. in Green Acres Commons in February 2020.
Aldi, which has a 15-year sublease for its Green Acres supermarket, said it plans to stay there. Also a German discount grocer, it has 11 stores on Long Island and U.S. headquarters in Illinois.
The Green Acres supermarket "is open for business and we do not have plans to close or relocate this store. Aldi is continuing to expand in New York City and Long Island, with plans to open five new stores in the region this year," a representative for the retailer said.
The IDA said it could not answer questions about what impact the planned Lidl will have on Aldi or Michaels.
Lidl expanded into the Long Island market in January 2019, when the retailer’s U.S. arm finalized its purchase from Bethpage-based Best Market of 27 New Jersey and New York stores, including all 24 on the Island, for an undisclosed price.
The discounter converted most Best Markets to the Lidl name, but it also closed a few and opened new Lidl stores.
The grocer opened its 24th Long Island store, a new-construction supermarket in Deer Park, in January.
Tory N. Parrish covers retail and small business for Newsday. She has worked at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y.
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