'If we're not there already we're coming to a town near you' Aldi says, vowing lower prices before Christmas

Aldi is to open 80 new shops over the next two years, as well as opening a new one every week until the end of the year, after sales hit a record high.

On top of the new sites to be launched, the UK arm of the German discount retailer said a further 21 stores will open within the next 13 weeks, in London, Durham, and Scotland. "If we're not there already, we are coming to a town near you," Aldi's UK and Ireland chief executive Giles Hurley told reporters, which will create thousands of additonal jobs.

Money blog: 'I'm a celeb photographer' Earlier this year, Aldi also said it was seeking sites in Bromley and Ealing in London, South Shields in Tyne and Wear, and Witney in Oxfordshire. Opening more shops will mean growing market share as the barrier of distance to an Aldi is eliminated.

"The last 35 years have taught us that when we open a store nearby, customers switch to Aldi," Mr Hurley said. "The main reason people choose not to shop with us regularly is distance, with over a third of shoppers saying they'd switched to Aldi for their main shop if we opened a store closer to them." There are currently 1,060 Aldis in the UK, with an ambition to bring the total to 1,500.

Price wars Aldi is the UK's fourth most popular supermarket, after Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda, according to industry data from Worldpanel. More families were choosing it as the place to do their weekly shop and were also going more frequently for top-up shopping, the company said, which helped Aldi's UK and Ireland annual revenue reach a new record of £18.1bn in 2024.

Prices are to be brought down in the coming weeks and months as Christmas approaches, Mr Hurley said, as 900 products became cheaper with £300m spent on bringing down the cost of goods. "I'm really confident that in the coming days, weeks and months, we'll continue to see prices in our stores drop.