New Supermarket Coming To Perry Hall

PERRY HALL, MD — Lidl will open where Mars used to be in Perry Hall. The Mars store, which used to anchor the Silver Spring Shopping Center, has been vacant since the grocer went out of business in 2016.

The company announced that Perry Hall would be one of 25 locations where it would be opening up stores by spring 2020. Others in Maryland were in Catonsville, College Park, District Heights, Hagerstown, Lanham and Waldorf. The rest of the stores would be in New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Virginia.

Councilman David Marks, who lives in and represents Perry Hall, said that he had been working for some time on securing a tenant for the property.

"Our office has been aggressively working to fill the vacant space at this location, extending the Perry Hall commercial district to attract new tenants. I have been in constant contact with Lidl over the past few months," Marks said in a statement on Friday, May 17. "I welcome any opportunity to fill this vacant property and create more jobs for the community."

The Perry Hall Lidl (pronounced LEE'-dull; rhymes with needle) is one of several that the company will open as it expands its presence on the East Coast. It plans to create more than 1,000 new jobs across nine states as it opens new stores.

German-based Lidl operates more than 10,000 stores in 29 countries. It first opened in 1973 south of Frankfurt, Germany, and has been expanding into the United States in recent years, competing with fellow German grocer Aldi. In 2015, Lidl opened its U.S. headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.

So far, there are two Lidl stores in Maryland; one opened in Bowie in September 2018 and another opened in Aberdeen in January 2019.

"We are committed to long-term growth in the United States and always strive to locate in the most convenient locations for our shoppers," CEO of Lidl US Johannes Fieber said in a statement. "These new stores are part of the next steps in our U.S. expansion. Over the next year, we are excited to introduce more customers to Lidl's award-winning quality, reliably low prices, and convenient shopping experience."

Lidl was named the third best supermarket in the U.S. by Food & Wine for 2018, after Wegmans and the HEB-operated Central Market chain in Texas.

When Perry Hall Patch surveyed readers in 2018 about what they wanted to see most in their community, they said they hoped (in addition to new schools) for new grocery stores in their community and for vacancies in shopping centers to be filled.

Wegmans, Harris Teeter, ShopRite, Trader Joe's, someplace locally owned like Geresbeck's, Amish market and Whole Foods were among the requests.

What do you think about Lidl coming to Perry Hall? Tell us in the comments?

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