SOUTH WHITEHALL TWP., Pa. — Grocery store chain ALDI is expanding across the country, and South Whitehall Township now has its newest location.
ALDI on Thursday opened its newest store at 3235 Hamilton Blvd. Representatives of the store held a ribbon-cutting ceremony before the store officially opened at 9 a.m.
- ALDI opened its newest location at 3235 Hamilton Blvd. in South Whitehall Township Thursday
- The store hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony and gave gifts to the first 100 customers in the store.
- Another ALDI location may open soon in Bethlehem Plaza
“The new location is part of the company’s aggressive nationwide growth in recent years,” a news release about the event stated. “ALDI is on track to open 150 new stores and become the third-largest U.S. grocery retailer by store count by the end of this year.”
Dozens of people waited in line – some for hours – to get in the store when it opened.
Allentown resident Cathi Murphy said she started waiting in line to enter the new store with her sisters-in-law at 6:15 a.m. Only one customer came before her, who got to the store at 5:45 a.m.
Murphy got a gift bag and gift cards from the store for being among the first 100 customers.
“The gift bags are great,” Murphy said. “The gift certificates were awesome. The store is nice and neat and clean. And everything is priced well, there's nothing overpriced in there. It was a wonderful experience.”
“The gift bags are great. The gift certificates were awesome. The store is nice and neat and clean. And everything is priced well, there's nothing overpriced in there. It was a wonderful experience.”Cathi Murphy, Allentown resident
The new store is just 0.6 of a mile from a Weis grocery store along Cedar Crest Boulevard and 2.2 miles from Wegmans store on Tilghman Street.
But Catherine Myles, who said she lives nearby, said she was excited about the opening because she knows ALDI’s prices typically are low.
“With the inflation going up, you want to know where you can get a bargain,” Myles said.
Allentown resident Joanne Smith was among winners of a $100 ALDI gift card. She said she loves going to ALDI — she even follows the Facebook group ALDI Aisle of Shame Community.
“They say that it's shameful because you come into ALDI for a gallon of milk and a dozen eggs, which should cost you under $10. And you hit the aisle of shame and you're out of there for about $180,” Smith said.
Not everyone had fun at the event. Allentown resident Kay Yankoski said she was “thrilled” about the new location, but the crowd was too big at the grand opening.
“I think it's a mob scene, and you can see that I'm buying nothing because my life is too short to spend pushing around in there,” Yankoski said. “I live five minutes away. I'll come when it's a little more quiet.”
Another ALDI location may come to the Lehigh Valley soon. The James Balliet Property Group posted on its Facebook page that a new location is coming to Bethlehem Plaza on Route 191 in Bethlehem Township. No other details were available, and ALDI did not respond to a request for comment.
ALDI now has 2,200 stores across 38 states, according to the news release.
ADLI’s South Whitehall Township location will be open daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
