Lidl's Deer Park supermarket to open this month, discounter says

Lidl’s first new-construction store on Long Island — and in New York State — will open this month, four years after the German discount grocer entered the local area by buying Best Market supermarkets.

Lidl will open its 24th Long Island store, at 450 Commack Rd. in Deer Park, on Jan. 18, the company said in a statement Monday.

The retailer spent $12 million on the 35,827-square-foot supermarket, which will employ 50 people, the grocer said.

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.

Lidl now employs about 1,000 people on Long Island.

The grocer came to the United States in 2017, and now has more than 170 stores in Washington, D.C., and nine East Coast states.

The Deer Park grocery store will have fresh produce; hundreds of organic and gluten-free products; and “specialty items ranging from hard-to-find cheeses to authentic specialty sauces, cured meats, and more,” Lidl said.

The store also will have charging stations for customers’ and employees’ electric vehicles.

Owned by the Germany-based Schwarz Group, which is the largest retailer in Europe, Lidl operates more than 12,000 stores in 32 countries and employs more than 360,000 people.

Helped by rising prices

Like Trader Joe's and Aldi, Lidl is a limited-assortment grocer, which is a discounter that carries a high percentage of its own private-label brands. About 80% of Lidl’s products are private label. Also, the stores are smaller than traditional supermarkets and tend to lack full-service meat, deli and bakery departments.

Given the nation's high inflation rate, limited-assortment grocers are faring well as consumers seek more bargains, retail experts said.

The inflation rate for food at home, or groceries, fell from 12.4% in October to 12% in November, but that was still the highest November level since 1974, when it was 12.1%, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

The high prices are due to several factors, including the costs of shipping food, said Scott Hoyt, senior director of consumer economics at Moody’s Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

“Food prices are particularly sensitive to diesel prices, which have not come down as much as gasoline prices,” he said.

The share of dollars spent on private-label edible goods nationwide dipped from 18.5% in 2020 to 18.1% in 2021, but it grew to 19% in 2022, according to IRI, a market research company based in Chicago.

Consumers are using multiple tactics to manage their budgets because their purchasing power has decreased, said Mary Ellen Lynch, a principal in center store solutions at IRI.

“They’re buying less. They’re reducing their waste. They’re shopping around. They’re chasing deals. And they’re buying store brands or private label,” said Lynch, who said limited-assortment grocers have been helped by the pandemic because the health crisis introduced new shoppers to the stores.

By Tory N. Parrish

tory.parrish@newsday.comToryParrish1

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.