Cheap is history

Around 60% of ALDI SÜD's Munich stores now sit inside mixed-use developments, sometimes as tenant, sometimes as owner. The retailer has opened dedicated project development offices in Cologne, Frankfurt and Offenbach, Stuttgart, and Munich to plan for cities where, as Justus Rehn puts it, "we increasingly have to think almost exclusively in terms of mixed use." Rehn, Director Property Development for ALDI SÜD's Munich office, points to a 2020 survey by Cologne's Institute for Retail Research showing that proximity has become the single most important shopping criterion for these customers, ahead of every other factor.

The approach dates back to 2008, when ALDI SÜD built 25 apartments above its store on Schwanseestraße in Munich-Giesing and later sold them, while continuing to operate the store as majority co-owner of the residential association. It has since taken a similar role at Quartier 5 in Munich-Haar, a joint development with a Bavarian housing company due for completion by 2023, and leased space at Die Macherei in Berg am Laim, one of several tenants across the 26,400-square-metre development.

"At the end of the day, we're still an efficiency-driven business," says Rehn. "Our real advantage is our capable, flexible store teams, who get the best out of even the trickiest layouts and awkward floor plans, every day."