The new Lewes Road branch of ALDI has opened to the public. Its first customers received free fruit and vegetables and the store has proved popular since.
However, high customer numbers have led to congestion outside the store.
Residents have voiced their concerns to local news outlets as queues of cars blocked the main road and bike lanes.
A council spokesperson said: “This is a new store and, like any big new store, it’s opening has attracted significant interest from shoppers.
“We will be letting the initial excitement and interest in the store die down and then, if needed, we will look at any issues with traffic.”
Traffic figures during the original application process were based on ‘average’, weekday circumstances for a food store which reflects a more settled pattern of shopping.
This means they would not account for exceptional traffic as a result of the new store opening.
The Badger contacted ALDI about this issue but they did not reply at the time of print.
The new branch is part of ALDI’s expansion and the brand aims to have 1,000 UK stores by 2022.
The stores are estimated to support at least 205,000 jobs according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr).
ALDI is the UK’s fifth largest supermarket behind Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons.
The Lewes Road branch is said to have created up to 50 jobs and is one of several ALDI branches in the local area.
The store occupies 1,100 square metres of retail space and is part of a £6 million expansion of the Pavilion Retail Park.
The cut-price supermarket generated £8.5 billion in UK Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2016 and this is predicted to reach £11.5 billion by 2022.
Image credit: Pixabay: Pinacol
