Discount Retail Chain Lidl UK (owned by the German Schwarz Group) as opened its largest warehouse in the world in Luton following a £300 million investment.
Spanning 1.2 million square feet, the regional distribution centre in the Houghton Regis area of the town will be delivering over 9,400 pallets a day across 150 stores. This compares to its existing distribution centres, which service between approximately 60 to 80 stores. It is also the first Lidl GB warehouse to feature automation.
The facility will create up to 1,500 jobs for the local community.
The opening comes as Lidl doubles down on its commitment to further strengthen its infrastructure across the UK. In 2022, the supermarket opened over 50 new stores and launched a further 19 at the beginning of this year.
Richard Taylor, chief development officer at Lidl GB, said: “The opening of this new RDC in Luton is a seminal moment for Lidl GB. Demand for Lidl has never been higher, and we are seeing an increasing number of people walk through our doors to make savings on every shop.
“The fact that Lidl’s largest RDC in the world is here in Great Britain speaks for itself not only in terms of us needing to meet the growing demand from customers, but also in terms of our ambition to grow that demand in the future.
“It is a spectacular state-of-the-art site that our team has worked incredibly hard on to get to where we are today. It has the capacity to service 150 stores, which is nearly triple the amount of some of our existing warehouses, demonstrating the true scale of our ambition and growth potential.”
Jeremy Hunt, Chancellor of the Exchequer, said: “It’s fantastic to see Lidl investing in the UK and creating thousands more well-paid jobs. As our plan to halve inflation this year and grow the economy bears fruit, businesses can be confident that investing in the UK is the right decision.”
In April, Lidl announced it was recruiting for 400 roles as it submitted a planning application at a 38-acre warehouse site in Gildersome in Leeds. This followed the recent opening of four regional distribution centres in Motherwell, Peterborough, Doncaster and a second site in Belvedere.
Read more: Lidl opens its largest warehouse in the world in Luton | Retail Bulletin (theretailbulletin.com)
