Manna from heaven came into Marilyn Murphy's life on Thursdayin the formof the new Venice Aldi store.
Murphy, who lives in Venice three months a year, is an Aldi devotee. When she's in her full-time state ofIllinois, she goes to Aldi. In Florida, she drives to Aldi as far away as North Port or Port Charlotte to stock up on groceries. She lives six miles away from the one in Nokomisand now she's just a mile away from the one in Venice'sJacaranda Plaza.
She plans to take advantage of this close proximity by walking to Aldi from where she lives. She even has her own shopping cart that she plans to pusharound on the sidewalks along U.S. 41.
"It's just a miracle," Murphy said of the new Aldi store. "Our Lord just answered a prayer."
Murphy wasn't the only oneenthralled by the new Aldi store in Veniceat 1687 S. Tamiami Trail, just north of Shamrock Boulevard. Dozens of Venetians and beyond came to visit the store on Thursday around its 8:30 a.m. opening, when company officials were on-site to celebrate the new store.
Putting a grocery store in the new Aldi location has been a long time in the making. The site, which was a Kmart until 2009, was announced as the future home of a Lucky's Market in 2018. At the time, Colorado-based Lucky's was making a big play for Florida – it announced a total of 20 new stores at the time of the Venice news andopened a distribution center in Orlandojust a couplemonths later.
But things took a sharp turn. Kroger, the main financial backer of Lucky's, pulledout in late 2019, and the companyfiled for bankruptcy early last year. Suddenly, the grocery store that had banked so heavily on Florida was out of theSunshine State, where it currently has no stores.
Lucky's already had a store in Sarasota at 3501 S. Tamiami Trail, a site at Westfield Siesta Key mall owned by Benderson Development Co. of Manatee County, the same firm that owns Jacaranda Plaza. After bankruptcy caused Lucky's to close its stores, Aldi stepped in and took over both the Sarasota and Venice leases.
"I was excited about Lucky's, but I am OKwith" Aldi,Terri Tuers of Venice said Thursday morning outside the new store. "It would have been nice."
The Sarasota Aldi opened at Westfield Siesta Key in early February, and the Venice store, well, that's what we're here to talk about today.
On opening day in Venice, company officials directed shoppers to their carts, which usually require a 25 cent deposit but were free on Thursday. The store itself, about 12,000 square feet with high ceilings and perfect lighting, was stocked full of products, including produce, baked goods, deli items, snacks like chips and cookies, desserts, frozen foods, sodas, household items, pet supplies and much more. Wine and beer was not available on opening day, but it should be soon.
Most of Aldi's products are from brands exclusive to the company, and those specialty products, plus the chain'scommitment to having the lowest prices in the game, are what keeps people coming back.
For Sandy Smyser, a Maryland native who has lived in the area for six years, the Aldi opening finally gave her the opportunity to complete a long and arduous treasure hunt. The search was for blue cheese-stuffed olives. She didn't want me to say what they were for, but you can use your imagination.
She and her husband, Richard, spotted stuffed olives from a brand called Specially Selected near the entrance to the store. The box said that Specially Selected had jalapeno-stuffed, garlic-stuffed and blue cheese-stuffed olives, but Sandy and Richard couldn't see any of the blue cheese variety, so they dug through the stacks until they found three jars. They took them all.
"We looked everywhere for bluecheese-stuffed olives. You know how TJ Maxx and HomeGoods have those specialty sections? Nobody had blue cheese. So I said, 'Let's see if Aldi has them.' They sure did," Sandy Smyser said. "These somewhere else would be $5.99 but here they're $2.99. And they're good till 2023. They'll be long gone before 2023."
Smyser said she wanted to be on hand for theribbon cutting just to celebrate the occasion– and to make sure the food wasn't picked over before she had the chance to stock up for her granddaughter's upcoming visit.
She grabbed some garlic knots, blueberry muffins, chocolate milk, dirty rice and a big bag of potatoes, just to name a few things. She does buy certain things at Publix – like the name-brand English breakfast tea that her husband likes – but she gets pretty much everything else at Aldi. She particularly loves the milk and the produce.
"I am a big Pampered Chef fan – I don't sell, I just host parties. And at the parties I tell the ladies about Aldi and they say, 'Aldi? What's Aldi?'Next thing you know, they're calling me and saying, 'Aldi, that place is fantastic,'" she said. "We love the prices and quality. I don't recall buying anything we haven't been happy with."
The Venice store is part of what I like to call Aldi's world domination strategy. It's a multibillion dollar expansion plan that involves opening new stores and renovating old ones.
This project has led to several new stores in Sarasota-Manatee, including the makeover of the Bradenton store on Cortez Road West, the opening of a new Bradenton store on 14th Street West, a new store in Nokomis and the Sarasota store. There's also a new locationplanned for Lakewood Ranch, though Aldi hasn't officially announced it yet.
"We want the best sites that are closest to our shoppers and can support a high daily traffic volume," Matt Thon, Haines City Division vice president for Aldi, said in a statement. "As the demand for Aldigrows, so do our real estate options. Bottom line, we want to be conveniently located for our shoppers.
"Since first entering Florida in 2008, we’ve been rapidly expanding across the state, and we are excited to open our first Venice store."
Expect to see more Aldi stores opening up in Sarasota-Manatee over the next few years.
One thing is clear:the love for Aldi in this market is vast and fervent.
"I will go as far as North Port and Nokomis for Aldi. There's lots of organic produce," Tuers said. "It may not have the same variety as the bigger stores, but that's OK."
The store is open daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
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