Aldi to invest pounds 50m in Welsh expansion; ALDI STEP UP TO TAKE ON THE SUPERMARKET GIANTS IN WALES New stores set to open.

Byline: By DAVID JONES Business Correspondent

DISCOUNT food chain Aldi is planning to invest around pounds 50m in new stores across North and mid Wales over the next five years - with the creation of more than 150 jobs.

The company says it is to open new stores in Llangefni and Aberystwyth next year as part of a nationwide expansion.

Company regional managing director Dan Ronald exclusively told Business Post that Aldi was also seriously looking at sites for new stores in several towns across the region including Caernarfon.

He said the massive expansion plan - part of around 1,000 new stores pencilled in for the UK - had been on the cards for some time.

But a 30% increase in footfall in its stores in North Wales and elsewhere after the credit crunch began to bite and shoppers looked to cut their weekly grocery bill had made the need for more outlets all the more pressing.

Mr Ronald said: "We are investing quite heavily in North Wales at the moment.

We opened a new store in Flint a couple of weeks ago and we moved a store from the centre of Colwyn Bay to Old Colwyn doubling its trade and giving a lift to surrounding businesses.

"We will be opening in Llangefni in March or April and we have planning permission for a store inDenbigh, due to open in 2010."

He said the company did not as yet have planning consent for other locations in North Wales but the company was keen to have a presence in places like Caernarfon, Bala and Abergele. It currently has seven stores in the area at Flint, Mold, Wrexham, Bangor, Llandudno, Prestatyn and Rhyl, employing between them around 200 staff.

"We are looking at eight to 10 new stores in North Wales over the next five years. That presents a substantial and long term commitment of around pounds 50m, assuming the cost per store is pounds 5m including land acquisition," addedMr Ronald.

Aldi said it has seen strong, doubledigit growth in its business in the UK over the past three or four years, but in the last six months it had jumped by about 30% across its estate.

The company says it can keep prices down, without compromising on product quality, because it stocks far fewer lines that its bigger competitors, and that in turns translates into smaller stores with lower overheads.

Aldi says it works closely as far as possible with local suppliers and has, for instance, recently seen a 60% jump in mince pie sales after it started stocking products from Bethesda bakery Popty Cae Groes.

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Aldi's new Flint store, opened last month, is part of the firm's expansion in the UK; Aldi's regional managing director Dan Ronald