Lidl to open 40 more stores as part of £500m expansion plans. Is one coming to your town?

28 April 2025, 15:39 | Updated: 28 April 2025, 17:19

Lidl has announced it will open 40 more stores this year and is eyeing up hundreds of potential new sites as part of its major expansion plans.

The German-owned supermarket is set to spend £500 million in this financial year and will open the new stores as part of this investment.

The retailer is yet to confirm the locations of these outlets, but did release a “wish list” of neighbourhoods in which it hopes to open a Lidl branch in the future.

It contains hundreds of areas that bosses believe could support a Lidl branch - including high street, retail park, and mixed-use town centre sites.

The new stores will take the discount grocer past the 1,000 store milestone in Britain, with the company heaping praise on the government's recent planning reforms in helping to "remove barriers to development".

Having opened 23 shops in the previous financial year, Monday's announcement represents a further acceleration in growth for Lidl, which is currently the UK's fastest growing supermarket chain.

Richard Taylor, chief real estate officer at Lidl GB, said: "This level of investment is a clear sign of our ambition.

"As we enter our fourth decade in Great Britain and hurtle towards 1,000 stores, there are still so many parts of the country crying out for convenient access to a Lidl store.

"That's why we welcome the measures proposed in the Government's Planning and Infrastructure Bill - they recognise the urgent need to remove barriers to development and support the kind of growth we at Lidl are working towards.

"New Lidl stores mean new jobs, new opportunities for British suppliers, and continued investment into local economies."

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Lidl currently has more than 980 stores and 14 distribution centres in England, employing 35,000 people.

Figures from Kantar earlier this month, suggested that Lidl sales rose by 9.1% over the 12 weeks to March 24.

This has seen it take a 7.8 per cent share in the UK grocery market and move closer to overtaking Morrisons, which is currently the UK's fifth largest supermarket chain.