ALDI grocery is coming to Fresno. Here’s what else is planned for this busy intersection
Discount grocery store ALDI is coming to Fresno, according to one Fresno City Council member.
Rumors that the popular German supermarket was coming to the northwest corner of Shaw and West avenues in Fresno have been flying for weeks, but neither ALDI nor the property owner would confirm them.
District 2 Councilmember Mike Karbassi, who represents northwest Fresno said Wednesday that he had confirmed ALDI had signed a lease and plans to open on the corner, after speaking Tuesday with the developer working on the property, Sol Development.
A new 7-Eleven and other stores will also be built on the corner.
The shopping center used to house restaurant Tang Dynasty and an OfficeMax, both of which have closed. Nina’s Bakery was also located in the same shopping center and is in the process of moving to Herndon and West avenues, near The Market. (The bakery is close to opening, with a health department inspection scheduled for next week.)
The buildings have been empty for months with neighbors wondering what would become of the fenced property.
“Everything is going to be torn down on that site,” Karbassi said.
Nina’s former location has already been torn down, and Tang Dynasty and OfficeMax are also slated for demolition, Karbassi said.
The new ALDI will be built where Tang Dynasty is now, he said.
It will be the second ALDI in the area, with the first opening in October in a former Fresh & Easy store near Fowler Avenue.
ALDI did not immediately return a message seeking comment about the new store or when it might open. ALDI typically doesn’t share much information about new stores until construction has started on them, Alexandra Skinkis, Aldi’s director of operations, told The Bee in October.
The store carries only the “weekly must-haves.” That means its stores are smaller with lower rent and electrical costs — savings that are passed on to shoppers, according to the company. ALDI says shoppers can save up to 50 percent on brands carried only at its stores.
The stores average about 15,000 square feet – bigger than a Trader Joe’s but smaller than a traditional grocery store.
Grocery carts are stored in one place in the store. Shoppers pay 25 cents to use a cart, and get it back when the cart is returned.
Plans for the store will likely have to go before the Fresno City Council sometime in 2020, Karbassi said.
More stores
The payday loan business on the corner is slated to be torn down and a new 7-Eleven built in its place, Karbassi said. The existing 7-Eleven across the street will move there, he said.
It will have a gas station, he added.
Once the OfficeMax building has been torn down, a building housing a large store and several small business spaces will be built there, he said.
“I’m just really excited about this,” Karbassi said. “It’s a definite inprovement for the neighborhood.”
The news comes of the heels of the opening of Golden Harbor Buffet down the street near Valentine Avenue.
