Will Aldi come to Utah or Salt Lake City? (plans, potential locations and more)
Utah and its capital, Salt Lake City, are known for amazing skiing, gorgeous national parks like Zion, and a large Mormon population. It lies between Nevada and Colorado and is one of the “Four Corners” states.
What Utah and Salt Lake City don’t have, however, are Aldi stores. So you might be wondering if Aldi has any plans to open stores in the state, and you might automatically assume that if they did, they’d start in the capital. Let’s investigate this further below.
Will Aldi come to Utah or Salt Lake City?
Aldi currently has no plans to open stores in Utah or its capital, Salt Lake City. The German supermarket chain has steadily increased its U.S. presence, but is now focusing on renovations at stores along the Gulf Coast and in the Northeast.
For some theories on why Aldi might not be coming to Utah or Salt Lake City anytime soon, where stores should decide to go, and what people are doing to accelerate Aldi’s entry into the hive state, read on!
Why isn’t Aldi coming to Utah or Salt Lake City?
Instead of targeting Utah and Salt Lake City, Aldi is focusing its expansion on the Gulf Coast, where states like Florida and Louisiana are seeing the most construction activity.
Everything Aldi does has to be planned in advance, and their current US expansion is no exception.
Back in 2017, Aldi announced that they would open 700 more stores by 2022, bringing their total to 2,500; persevered.
Aldi is also building a distribution center in Loxley, Alabama to serve the Gulf Coast and support new store openings there.
None of this rules out expansion into Utah, but it just so happens that Aldi is focusing its attention elsewhere in the U.S. now and for the foreseeable future.
Where will Aldi open in Utah or Salt Lake City?
Utah’s voracious Aldi fans have plenty of advice for Aldi if it decides to set up shop there.
“Can Aldi open in Utah? Kearns, Riverton, Salt Lake City, Ogden, Oram, West Valley, Sandy, Draper, Bluff Dale, Lehi, Provo, American Fork, Spanish Fork it would be great (sic),” Facebook wrote a fan on Twitter.
Another even thought of a specific location in Salt Lake City: “Please come to the Salt Lake area! There’s a great vacant corner store/property near 3300 South and 1300 East, near the famous Brickyard Mall and the great Harmons grocery store !”
Where is the closest Aldi location to Utah?
Since Aldi expanded into Arizona, the closest point to Utah is the store in Peoria, Arizona, about 400 miles each way.
At one time, the closest Aldi store to Utah was in Hesperia, California, about 484 miles away.
While 100 miles is closer, it’s still too far for many people, even as a day trip.
What’s the move to bring Aldi to Utah or Salt Lake City?
While Aldi in Utah is hopefully begging on their Facebook page for the chain to come to their state (one lamented, “I saw an Aldi ad on TV today and I was like wow Aldi is finally in Utah!! But , it’s a lie…” A fan on Reddit decided to take concrete action.
In 2019, they started a petition to bring Aldi to Salt Lake City. Unfortunately, they only received 65 signatures.
Where else can shoppers go in Utah or Salt Lake City but at Aldi?
Utah and Salt Lake City aren’t without grocery options, though.
Trader Joe’s has been operating in Salt Lake City since 2012 and currently has 3 locations open.
WinCo Foods is another option, like a warehouse (think Sam’s Club or Costco), with five locations throughout Utah.
If you’d like to learn more about Aldi, you might also be interested in knowing whether Aldi will be in San Francisco or Northern California, whether Aldi will be in Seattle or Washington, and whether Aldi will be in Colorado.
in conclusion
While Aldi has no plans to open stores in Utah or Salt Lake City, there’s no question it’s just a matter of time. It may take a few years, but I’d be very surprised if Aldi doesn’t end up in all 50 states.
