Lidl Northern Ireland has confirmed its newly transformed Castlereagh Road store in Belfast will reopen on Thursday 15 September, welcoming shoppers to enjoy its bright, modern and award-winning ‘concept’ store design and expanded product range promising to be ‘Big on Quality, Lidl on Price.’
The region’s fastest-growing supermarket retailer broke ground in March to relocate its existing store at the junction of Castlereagh and Montgomery Road in Belfast to a new adjacent site on Castlereagh Road. Approval for the new store was sought and granted by Belfast City Council last year.
Occupying a much larger area of 11,575 sq. meters, with an impressive 1,420 sq. metre sales floor, the new east Belfast store has been built with a focus on sustainability and style – prioritising energy efficiency with a range of environmentally-friendly features as well as a sleek, modern design and improved access as part of the entire site’s ambitious transformation plans.
The expanded store has also created further employment for the local area, with the team welcoming 10 permanent new employees to support the larger retail offering. A further 200 jobs were also supported during the build-out and development phase.
Part of a £32 million investment by Lidl Northern Ireland into developing five stores within the Greater Belfast region, the new Castlereagh store has been in planning since 2021, undergoing an extensive public and stakeholder consultation to bring local shoppers an improved customer experience, an expanded product range and modern facilities.
Lidl Northern Ireland Regional Property Director, Chris Speers, said:
“Castlereagh Road continues to be an important location for us – we’ve been serving the local community here for more than 20 years and we are delighted to now welcome local shoppers a modern new store with significantly more space to shop all their favourite products. This project is part of our strategy and commitment to invest in transforming our existing range of older stores to better serve communities and to future proof our store network in line with our ambitious sustainability targets.
The relocation has also enabled us to breathe new life into this prominent location and to refresh the entire site with new landscaping and improved access which will benefit our neighbours and the wider community.
This has been a highly anticipated project and feedback from the community has been very encouraging as locals look forward to continuing to shop our award-winning range of high-quality food at low prices, particularly during this challenging time.
I’m pleased that we were able to deliver this project within just six months and I’m delighted to confirm an opening date of Thursday 15 September. The team and I look forward to welcoming our new team members as well as our fantastic customers through the doors very soon.”
The new Lidl Northern Ireland Castlereagh Road store will open on Thursday 15th September 2022 at 8am.
To celebrate the new store opening, local pupils from Knockbreda Primary School and St. Bernard’s Primary School have been invited to officially cut the ribbon and receive a cheque donation, whilst Tiny Life has also been selected to benefit from a charity donation as part of Lidl Northern Ireland’s commitment to positively contribute to its local community.
In the Belfast region, Lidl Northern Ireland contributed more than £225,000 into its staff, local charities and community groups last year, according to the results of Lidl’s 2021 Impact Report.
Confirmed as Northern Ireland’s fastest-growing supermarket by Kantar, with 12.6% market share growth over the last two years and holding a 7% market share of the region’s overall grocery market, Lidl contributes around £180 million a year to the local economy, sustaining 3,500 jobs while buying and exporting as much as £290 million worth of local goods and products.
The company employs more than 1,000 employees across its 41-strong store network and Regional Distribution Centre in Nutt’s Corner, Co. Antrim.
For more information visit www.lidl-ni.co.uk
