Aldi to open store where Bottom Dollar closed in Garfield
The occasion called for champagne.
Aldi Inc. announced Friday it will reopen nine recently closed grocery stores in Western Pennsylvania, including a location in Garfield that community members fought to keep open.
“It's like Christmas came early. This means there will be access to affordable, quality groceries for our neighbors,” said Aggie Brose, deputy director of Bloomfield-Garfield Corp., which led the effort to keep a grocery store in the East End neighborhood.
Brose and others celebrated by drinking champagne Friday at the Bloomfield-Garfield Community Activity Center.
“This is exactly what the residents were calling for,” said City Councilwoman Deborah Gross, whose district includes the grocery site. “It's a really great day.”
Last year, Belgium-based Delhaize Group announced it would close all 66 of its Bottom Dollar stores in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Ohio and sell its assets to Aldi for $15 million.
The Bottom Dollar store in Garfield had been open just six months. Before that, the neighborhood had gone years without a grocery store.
The closure sparked weeks of protests, with residents standing outside the shuttered store holding signs urging Aldi to reopen the supermarket. The Bloomfield-Garfield Corp. vowed to buy the Penn Avenue building and find a grocer interested in that spot if Aldi decided against opening at that location.
Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto and Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald were also involved in talks with the company.
“Aldi said they would work to achieve a positive outcome for the community with this site, no matter what would happen, and they were true to their word,” Peduto said in a statement.
There were several factors involved in the decision to reopen the store in Garfield.
“Certainly the community had an impact,” Aldi spokeswoman Julie Ketay said.
The company also looked at population density and the store's proximity to shoppers, she said.
Aldi plans to reopen stores in Homestead, McKeesport, Baldwin, Ross, Aliquippa and Carnegie as well as the Bon Aire Plaza location in Butler and the Saltsburg Road location in Penn Hills.
It said 28 sites in Pennsylvania will be evaluated for sale, sublease or assignment, including stores in Ambridge, Castle Shannon, McKees Rocks and Whitehall as well as the Frankstown Road location in Penn Hills and the Butler Crossing location in Butler.
Tony Raap is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7827 or traap@tribweb.com.
