The German discount grocer Aldi has opened a new store in Manhattan as part of an aggressive $9bn (£6.7bn) expansion across the United States, aiming to add 800 outlets over five years and directly challenge established American supermarkets. The move marks a notable strategic shift for a chain long associated with suburban strip malls and lower-income shoppers, as it now targets dense, affluent urban areas. It matters because Aldi is attempting to replicate in the US the disruptive success it achieved in the UK, where it and rival Lidl steadily eroded the dominance of the traditional "big four" grocers.

Aldi first entered the US in 1976 and now operates nearly 2,800 stores, though it holds just 2.9% of the American grocery market compared with Walmart's roughly 20%. Analysts suggest Aldi's strength lies in staying smaller and drawing shoppers with steep price differences, such as a jar of almond butter priced at $4 versus $22 elsewhere. Data from analytics firm Placer.ai indicates the chain is increasingly attracting middle- and higher-income households earning between $75,000 and $125,000, as persistent inflation pushes wealthier consumers to trade down. In the UK, Aldi is now the fourth-largest grocer with a 10.8% market share.