McKnight Road to be home to 2 Aldi stores

Officials of discount grocery chain Aldi say they will continue to operate their store at the Shoppes of Northway in Ross even though they are converting the former Bottom Dollar Food farther south on McKnight Road to an Aldi.

“Aldi will have two locations on McKnight Road. The current Aldi store at 8000 McKnight Road will remain open,” said Aldi spokesperson Kathleen Gilgunn said in an email.

The stores will be about a mile and a half apart.

In a March 27 news release, Aldi officials announced that they had completed the purchase of assets from the Delhaize Group, the Belgium-based owner of Bottom Dollar Food and will open Aldi stores at 30 locations. One of those sites is the store at 7221 McKnight Road, in the McKnight Road Shopping Center, commonly known as Ross Towne Center.

Gilgunn said the decision on which stores to reopen was based on their location, proximity to other Aldi stores, population density and community input. She offered no timeline for the opening of the store in Ross.

“We look forward to working with the various public officials and communities to secure all permits and city approvals, as well as complete the necessary construction, to open these stores as quickly as possible,” she wrote.

She said it was premature to say how many employees would work at the new Aldi store in Ross, but she welcomed former Bottom Dollar Food employees to apply for the jobs.

Ross Commissioner Jeremy Shaffer said the announcement is good news.

“I'm pleased that Aldi's will keep both locations open,” he said. “I think it will give township residents more options and convenience and shows the strength of our commercial district.”

Craig Linner, president of Ross Township Business and Economic Development Corp., or RED, said he was surprised that Aldi would have two stores on McKnight in Ross.

“I would personally prefer to see a nondiscount store of any kind — a restaurant or something we have less of in the area. But any place I've ever been that's had an Aldi's, they always done a nice job of keeping the stores looking good,” Linner said.

Dominic Rickert, Ross planning and zoning administrator, said he also was surprised that Aldi was opening a second store on McKnight.

“I was just glad something's coming in and using the spot,” he said. “Going from the same use to same use is fine. Everybody associates that corner with a grocery store.”

Bill Zlatos is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 724-772-6353 or bzlatos@tribweb.com.