A soft opening will be held on Thursday, July 27, and the official ribbon-cutting and grand opening will be held at 8:45 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 3, at the new location at 741 Scioto St. in Urbana.
“We are excited to bring an ALDI location to Urbana and will provide shoppers with the premium, fresh foods they want at prices they love,” company officials said.
Doug Crabill, Urbana’s community development manager, said ALDI’s project is an investment by the company in the Urbana community.
ALDI redeveloped an existing 65,593-square-foot shopping center building that was 89% vacant at the time they put the building into contract for purchase and redevelopment. That building has now been demolished for the new ALDI store.
Crabill said the building that was demolished was a Big Lots until 2014, a Sav-A-Lot until 2018, and was most recently a Goodwill that vacated before demolition.
“With the building being largely vacant and in general disrepair within a prime commercial corridor of the city, local entities worked cooperatively to assist ALDI with their redevelopment effort,” he said.
ALDI has also created a new out-lot along Finch Street adjacent to the new store that’s available for purchase and redevelopment by others.
Crabill said this project adds to the significant development and reinvestment the city has had in recent years, and the momentum is “anticipated to continue as numerous projects remain in the development pipeline.”
Ebert said stores such as ALDI add to the growth of the city and county.
“Companies are seeing that Champaign County is growing and there is something special happening here, and they want to be a part of it. Stores such as Aldi, add to that and attract more potential residents to come and look at our county and the wonderful communities we have,” he said.
The store will be open daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. ALDI has locations nearest Urbana in Springfield at 2091 N. Bechtle Ave., and Bellefontaine at 2175 U.S. Route 68 South.
“We look for convenient locations for our customers that can support a high traffic volume daily. Every market and situation is unique, but ALDI stores are successful in cities, suburbs, and rural communities,” ALDI officials said. “We work hard alongside local communities to make sure our new stores are welcome additions, and look forward to opening in Urbana.”
When the store officially opens on Aug 3., the first 100 customers will receive a golden ticket that could be worth up to $100 and get a bag of ALDI goodies, a shopping tote (limited quantities), and enter for a chance to win a $500 gift card between Aug. 3-6.
Sara Neer, executive director of the Champaign County Chamber of Commerce, added the interest and excitement to have ALDI is high, and more than 270 people have responded to the Facebook event for the ribbon cutting.
For more information, visit the event page on Facebook or ALDI’s website at www.aldi.us/en/about-aldi/grand-openings/urbana-oh/.
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