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Lidl Supermarket Proposed for Washington Township

Lidl Supermarket Proposed for Washington Township
Reading Time: 3 minutes

A big thanks goes out to the readers of 42Freeway, who via comments on our Facebook page’s visitor posts figured out that the German supermarket chain LIDL is looking to build a new store on Route 42 in Washington Township, across from the Lowe’s and Target.  The traffic light intersection at Watson Drive will be a key entry point into a newly proposed 3 building “Shoppes at Turnersville” complex.

A marketing PDF flyer put together by developer “Retail Sites” shows a modern curved roof building to house the LIDL supermarket, and two other individual buildings, which it seems do not have tenants yet.

The location is a prime vacant property in the heart of retail heavy Route 42.  Its actually surprising that this location has been vacant for so long.

LIDL was recently featured here at 42Freeway, as it was determined they are also interested in a property in Gloucester Township just a few miles away on Cross-Keys Road next to the existing Acme.  In fact looking at an overhead view on Google maps, the two proposed locations are VERY close.

LIDL_Distance

Lidl is a discount grocer in the same category as ALDI (who is also German owned), but the US stores of LIDL will be larger at approximately 34,000 square feet.   As mentioned in our previous article, earlier this year, several news outlets stated that one of the largest food retailers in the world (and based in Germany) was poised to make its move into the US, and was targeting locations in New Jersey as a key entry point.   NorthJersey.com wrote back in January 2016, that the model for stores is similar to Aldi, but twice the size offering more selections.  LIDL also prefers building their own stores, and would be looking for land to build.  TalkBusiness.Net has additional details on the business model, including the success the company has been having outside of the US.

The marketing PDF for the Washington Township store shows the building being developed rotated 90 degrees from what we traditionally expect from a store or supermarket, in that it is much deeper than wide…  and all three stores are right up front on Route 42, putting the most significant amount of parking in the back of the 2 other buildings.  This arrangement reminds me of an interview with Dave Mayor, the mayor of neighboring Gloucester Township, who said a key problem with his Blackwood-Clementon Road retail district is all of the buildings sat back off the roadway with large parking lots in front and people can’t see the businesses.  So it seems someone in Washington Township was listening.

As I mentioned… this story comes from reader tips posted to our facebook page!

The visitor commentary at 42Freeway started with Joan asking:

Anyone know what the building next to the closed down Pizza Hut on 42 in Turnersville is going to be? Been sold and they have been working on it forever.

JJ replied the same day with:

The minutes mentioned an individual who wanted to put a LIDL on that land. I don’t know who (name redacted) is, they could be a board member, a developer, or just a citizen who is voicing their desires, for example the people whose hearts might literally stop beating if they don’t post on a forum that they want Trader Joes in Washington Twp

And before I really had a chance to look into it, Erin hits one out of the park with:

Found this online mapping out LIDL across from Targethttp://www.retailsites.net/sites/default/files/Washington%20Twp%20Flyer%205-16-16%20(reduced).pdf

Thank you Joan, JJ, and Erin!!  If I ever get those 42Freeway t-shirts printed…

(C) Retail Sites Lidl Washington Township NJ

(C) Retail Sites
Lidl Washington Township NJ