Lidl to plough £30m into Scottish stores, creating 500 jobs

Discount supermarket group Lidl has unveiled plans to create more than 500 jobs in Scotland as part of a £30 million investment in its stores.

The privately-owned German retailer, which made its first foray into the UK in 1994, has 88 stores across Scotland and said customer numbers have jumped 20 per cent since it launched its first branding campaign north of the Border at the start of this month.

As well as refurbishing its store portfolio, the firm will expand its distribution centre in Livingston by almost a third.

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Warehouse manager Iain Hunter said: “The rise in customer numbers and therefore sales means we are even busier at the warehouse.

“We are now shipping more and more pallets of stock every day to our stores in Scotland and as a result we now require to extend the warehouse to cope with the current increase and planned future increases in turnover.”

Market researcher Kantar Worldpanel said earlier this week that Lidl had a record 3 per cent share of the grocery market in May as it continued to win more business away from the UK’s “big four” supermarkets.

As the grocery sector becomes more polarised, Lidl said it is attracting more affluent shoppers to its stores, with the proportion of so-called ABC1 customers soaring from 25 per cent in 2011 to 41 per cent last year.

Ross Millar, managing director of Lidl Scotland, said: “It’s been a tough few years for everyone in Scotland but Lidl has continued to grow from strength to strength.

“The fact we are now looking to extend our distribution centre and recruit over 500 new permanent employees is not only a good sign for us but is also great news for Scotland.”

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