Aldi planning to develop €6.8 million north Longford store and create 30 new jobs

Once all planning hoops have been negotiated, ALDI aims to open the store in the summer of 2025, making it the second ALDI store to open in Longford since 2000.

It is expected that the new Granard store will create up to 30 permanent jobs.

Commenting last Thursday, Colin Breslin, Managing Director of Buying and Services, ALDI Ireland said: “We’re delighted to submit our plans for a store in Granard and to commit to further investment in county Longford.”

Mr Breslin added, “Every new ALDI store brings greater choice, quality, and value to shoppers, which during a cost-of-living crisis, is arguably more important now than ever before.”

The proposed store development will consist of the demolition of the existing building, associated car park and boundary walls on lands on the western side of Barrack Lane and south of Church Quarter.

If approved, the 1,315sqm store will feature ALDI’s award-winning Project Fresh layout.

There will also be 120 car parking spaces available for customers and 13 bike parking spaces.

An ALDI spokesperson said they will also be investing in the future of Granard through the provision of four electric vehicle charging points, while the store will be powered by 100% green electricity and will feature 245 solar panels on the roof.

Also included in Granard plan is vehicular / pedestrian access from Barrack Lane and a single storey ESB substation and switchroom c. 21 sqm; all landscaping, a loading bay at northern elevation, lighting, boundary treatments, engineering and site development works.

ALDI partners with three food producers in Longford including Pat the Baker.

In 2022, ALDI sourced €4.7 million of locally produced food and drink from county Longford based suppliers.

To date, ALDI’s Longford store has donated over 28,000 meals to local charities through FoodCloud, saving the charities nearly €36,000.

The store is also part of ALDI’s Community Grants network, with Longford Town Men’s Shed one of the local charities that have availed of the €500 bursary grant in recent years.

The proposed Granard store is part of a €33.6 million investment in four Midlands counties over the next two years.

As part of the company’s overall growth and development strategy in Ireland, ALDI has submitted planning applications to construct four new stores across the Midlands, at Granard, Tullamore (Offaly), Moate (Westmeath) and Kilcock (Kildare).

If approved, the proposed stores would all open by 2025, creating 120 permanent jobs across the region, with 200 jobs supported during the construction phase.

Longford planners are set to adjudicate and announce their decision on the plans for the Granard store by October 31 next, with the closing date for submissions on the application being October 10.

Meanwhile, a report, compiled by Dublin City University's (DCU’s) Professor Emeritus of Economics, Anthony Foley, and commissioned by ALDI, found that grocery retail consumers across Ireland are losing out on savings of €78,333 every month due to delays in planning appeal decisions.

“The Financial Impact of Ireland’s Planning System Delays on Irish Consumers,” details that of the sixteen appeals of ALDI planning applications made to An Bord Pleanála over the five-year period, thirteen experienced decision delays resulting in total savings forgone to consumers of almost €10 million.