BUCKEYE, AZ — After a years-long delay, the Aldi grocery store in Buckeye, Arizona, will finally open on Thursday, Feb. 10.
The discount grocery store will be open daily from 9 a.m. - 9 p.m. at 1361 S. Watson Road, near Watson and Yuma roads. A ribbon cutting ceremony will be held at 7:55 a.m.
ALDI OPENS IN ARIZONA: TAKE A LOOK INSIDE
News of Aldi's plans to open in Buckeye first made headlines in 2018 and at the time, the Buckeye store was expected to be the first store to open in the Phoenix market. However, that opening was continuously delayed and, eventually, stores opened in Chandler, Gilbert, Goodyear, Laveen, Peoria, and Queen Creek.
Thursday's opening will mark Aldi's seventh store in the market.
Compared to other grocery stores, Aldi considers itself to be a discount grocer and keeps its costs low by relying primarily on generic/private label products, has customers supply their own bags and bag their own groceries, and requires a $0.25 deposit for shopping carts so that they do not need to hire people to collect carts from the parking lot (the quarter is returned when customers return the cart to the corral).
Aside from that, Aldi has all the staples that one would find at a traditional grocery store, including fruits and vegetables, various meats and ready-to-cook frozen foods, cheese and milk, crackers, cookies, snacks, and juice and soda.
Not everything is generic brands; there are a few name-brand items on shelves, including Coke and Gatorade.
Aldi has also begun construction on another store in Phoenix, near 14th Street and Bell Road. The building itself is up, as well as Aldi signage, however, Aldi has not responded to requests for the timeline of this specific store.
Over the years, Aldi has filed applications and permits for additional stores in Scottsdale and Tempe. But, Aldi has not announced or confirmed details regarding those locations. ABC15 has reached out to Aldi requesting updates on future locations.
Aldi also reportedly has plans to build a distribution center in Goodyear. However, updates have not been announced or released on the status of that project.
