By james art The UK will see a further 10 stores, with one coming to Stirchley in Birmingham
Lidl has announced it will open 10 more UK stores, including one in Birmingham, before Christmas as the discount retailer targets new shoppers ahead of the festive season.
The German supermarket chain also announced it had agreed to sell 12 new stores as part of a £70m leaseback deal.
Lidl currently has around 960 stores but previously said it was targeting more than 1,100 across England, Wales and Scotland.
The new openings this year will create around 400 jobs and reach thousands more households, according to the retailer.
The expansion includes stores in Berwick Green in Bristol, Bovey Tracey in Devon and Stirchley in Birmingham, as well as three in London’s Hoxton, Forest Gate and Caterham.
It also includes the reopening of relocated or refurbished stores in Chessington and Dagenham in London and Connah’s Quay in Wales.
Lidl is now the UK’s sixth largest supermarket with an 8.1% share of the grocery market, according to the latest figures from Kantar.
That puts it just behind Morrisons, which has an 8.6% share, and German rival Aldi, which has increased its share to just under 10th place.
Meanwhile, Lidl said it had agreed a deal to sell 12 new stores under construction for £70m.
Investment group Roadside Real Estate, through its joint venture with Meadow Partners, will acquire the stores, which are due to open by February next year in locations including Manchester and Saffron Walden.
The deal means Lidl will get an immediate cash boost and then pay rent on the stores, which will be on 25-year leases.
Lidl UK’s chief development officer, Richard Taylor, said: “Our plan to open 10 new stores before Christmas demonstrates our ongoing commitment to giving more communities across the country access to affordable, quality food as well as employment opportunities.
“But we still have big ambitions for our expansion plans to open hundreds more Lidl stores in the future.
“Our teams are constantly scouring the country for new sites, identifying opportunities not only in cities where we don’t currently have stores, but also in areas where existing stores are experiencing growing demand,” Taylor said.