South Philly Aldi expansion to push Goodwill store to nearby shopping center

Discount grocer Aldi is set to expand its South Philadelphia store into a neighboring space currently occupied by a Goodwill Industries International Inc. thrift shop, which plans to move into the nearby Whitman Plaza shopping center.

Aldi, which owns the Front Street and Oregon Avenue building that it shares with Goodwill, notified the thrift shop last year that it would have to depart its 8,500-square-foot space in the property when its lease expires in March to allow for the German-based grocer’s expansion, Michael Shaw, operations chief for Goodwill in Philadelphia and Southern New Jersey, said Wednesday.

The Aldi renovations are part of a $1.9 billion company initiative to remodel and expand more than 1,300 stores nationwide by the end of 2020, Bob Grammer, vice president for the Aldi division that covers eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and northern Delaware, said in an emailed statement.

Remodeled stores feature open ceilings to let in natural light and additional space for fresh produce, dairy and meat, Grammer said. The South Philadelphia store’s shopping space, currently four aisles of goods, will be expanded to add another aisle, he said.

Grammer did not say how large the new store will be, but Philadelphia property records show the entire building, which Aldi will fully occupy, to be about 25,000 square feet. Grammer also did not say when the work would be complete.

Goodwill, meanwhile, will move about four blocks west on Oregon Avenue to Whitman Plaza, where it will occupy 16,000 square feet being relinquished by a shrinking Burlington Stores Inc. discount clothing shop, Shaw said.

Until that space is ready for occupancy around late spring, the thrift store will use a smaller, temporary space in Whitman Plaza, beside a Payless ShoeSource Inc. store. Goodwill will vacate the Front Street and Oregon Avenue location by March 15, he said.