6 July 2023
By Bryan McCarthy
bryan@TheCork.ie
ALDI’s nationwide expansion continues today with the opening of its new store in Kanturk, Co Cork, creating 30 new permanent jobs and investment of over €9 million in the local area.
Located in Percival Street, the store becomes ALDI’s 26th store in Cork and 160th nationwide and was officially opened today by the local team and Store Manager, Aurelija Barbsiene.
Cork Investment
Since opening its first Cork store in Ballincollig in 1999, ALDI has made a capital investment of over €233 million in the county. Across its 26 stores in Cork, the retailer employs over 850 people with over €30 million total annual salary spend.
Working with 30 local producers, ALDI spent €70 million with its Cork based suppliers in 2022.
Additionally, ALDI has invested €1.6 million in Cork as part of its Project Fresh initiative. ALDI Project Fresh stores focus on reducing the reliance on fossil fuels, using sustainable energy supply and avoiding CO2 emissions.
Speaking at the Kanturk store opening, Aurelija Barbsiene, ALDI Kanturk Store Manager said: “This new €9 million store in Kanturk is the latest step in ALDI’s expansion programme and I’m delighted to open our 26th store in Cork today. This new store, and the 30 new jobs created, will support our ambition to deliver value to the people of Ireland at the locations most convenient to them.
As a leading retailer in Ireland, we are very conscious of the current challenges facing consumers and businesses. The cost-of-living crisis is impacting every household and we know what it means for our customers. Working alongside our strong network of local suppliers, we will continue to work hard, mindful of the challenges facing our customers and supporting them where we can.
Households and families in Kanturk and the surrounding areas can now shop at their local ALDI and enjoy our range of great quality fresh produce, Irish ingredients and household products, all at affordable prices. Our promise to our Cork customers is that we will never be beaten on price, and we will always provide the best value when they shop with us.”
ALDI Kanturk
The spacious new 1,813 sqm store features ALDI’s award winning Project Fresh layout and features wide aisles and hi-spec fixtures and fittings. ALDI shoppers will be able to make use of 102 car parking spaces and 2 electric vehicle charging spaces. A total of 12 bike parking spaces are also available outside the ALDI store.
The store has been designed to be as environmentally friendly as possible, powered by green electricity and featuring solar panels on the roof of the store, powering items such as energy saving lights and ALDI’s new chiller fridges. It also features ALDI’s new Electronic Shelf Labels in store in place of traditional paper price labels, meaning that stock or price changes can be quickly and easily communicated to customers.
The Kanturk store opening hours are:
- Mon to Fri: 09:00 – 22:00
- Sat and Sun: 09:00 – 21:00
Community Support:
ALDI’s existing stores across Co. Cork are deeply rooted in their local communities. To date, the stores have donated nearly 360,000 meals to local charities through FoodCloud, saving the charities over €450,000. Each store is also part of ALDI’s Community Grants network, with Marymount Hospital & Hospice, Cobh Community Hospital and St Johns Ambulance Glanmire among the charities that availed of the €500 bursary grant last year.
In addition to supporting local charities, ALDI, in collaboration with Green Belt, is the first retailer in Ireland to commit to planting 1 million native Irish woodland trees by 2025.
Supplier Support:
ALDI has invested more than €8 million in its Grow with ALDI supplier development programme since 2018, which offers up-and-coming artisan Irish food and drink producers the chance to have their products listed in ALDI’s 158 stores. Currently working with over 330 Irish food and drink producers, ALDI spent €1.1 billion with its Irish suppliers in 2022.
ALDI Staff with Cllr: Ausra Vilpauskiene, Cork County Councillor John Paul O’Shea (Fine Gael), Aurelija Barbsiene, Kanturk Store Manager and Sigita Gailyte Pictured at ALDI’s newly opened store in Kanturk, Co. Cork.
Photography By Gerard McCarthy
