Aldi has announced it is looking to open new stores in the North East after it officially became Britain’s fourth biggest supermarket – with the company looking for sites at two key locations.

The budget chain, which has over 970 stores, has plans to open 16 more stores before the end of the year and is set to create over 6,000 new jobs across the country this year as it continues to expand.

Bosses at the supermarket say it is currently looking for new sites in Tyne & Wear in Newcastle and Sunderland, as key locations for new stores.

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They say they are looking for freehold town-centre or edge-of-centre sites suitable for property development. The sites should be able to accommodate a 20,000sq foot store with around 100 parking spaces and would be near a main road with good visibility and access.

It comes after it was announced last week that ALDI had become the fourth biggest supermarket in the UK.

In its annual trading update, Aldi said it had attracted record numbers of new shoppers in the past six months as pandemic restrictions were lifted.

The latest data from Kantar shows Aldi attracted 1.5 million extra customers to its stores over the past 12 weeks and sales grew at 18.7%, overtaking Morrisons with a market share of 9.3%.

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Giles Hurley, Chief Executive Officer for Aldi UK and Ireland, said: “The cost-of-living crisis is worsening, and it’s being felt by millions of households across the UK. It’s in times like these when our customers rely on us the most, which is why we’re focusing on continuing to deliver our longstanding price promise by offering the lowest possible prices in Britain, every single day.

“Independent research shows our discount is as compelling as ever and that’s why more and more people are switching to Aldi.

“We will do whatever it takes to maintain our discount to the traditional full price supermarkets and keep grocery prices as low as possible for the millions of customers that shop with Aldi.”

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