Aldi has finally opened its doors in Cazenovia.
The German discount grocery chain, which currently has stores in DeWitt and Canastota, held its official opening and ribbon cutting at its Route 20 store on Thursday morning, Dec. 21.
“This is a great addition to the town, the village and Madison County,” said Town Supervisor Bill Zupan, who assisted with the ribbon cutting ceremony.
District Manager Vanessa Van Duzen said the store is “one of the biggest in the area,” and features six-and-a-half aisles and carries 95 percent private label products. The Aldi corporation has been steadily increasing it organic and fresh meat line, additionally featuring all non-GMO, non-artificial flavoring and no added MSG products.
“It’s a very exciting day,” Van Duzen said as she, store manager Ryan Kendrick and store employees participated in the ribbon cutting.
Aldi has spent several years planning the Cazenovia establishment as there were several “hoops to jump through,” said Van Duzen. After multiple lawsuits were filed against its approval earlier this year, all were dismissed by a state supreme court judge and the company was finally able to break ground in July of this year.
Cazenovia area residents have been eagerly awaiting the store’s opening, and the hype for the store has not gone unnoticed in recent days. “Ten to 15 people would come by a day to ask if we were open yet,” Van Duzen said.
Peg Frisbey, a Cazenovia resident since 1956, gave the new Aldi a “thumbs up.” She was one of the first customers in line, waiting for the new store to open. “Looking in, it looks really nice,” she said. She has been shopping at the Canastota and DeWitt Aldi locations, and is looking forward to being able to stay in town for groceries.
The Cazenovia location is one of the few stores to feature their fresh produce in the front, which has already made an impression on customers. Cazenovia resident Carol Coufal said the placement was a great idea, and the layout of the store is “very well done.” “Kudos to Aldi for doing that,” Coufal said. “Tops’ prices are just outrageous, and I know that I can find what I need here at very low prices. I know a lot of people in the area have been waiting for this.”
Greg Widrick, a partner of Sphere Development Inc., the developer that brought Aldi to Cazenovia, said Friday was a great day. “We’re obviously happy it’s open; it’ll be a great asset for the community. As we’ve said before, there’s a lot of the community support and expectation and I think they’ll be met by this store.”
Anna Marie Neuland, executive director of the Grater Cazenovia Area Chamber of Commerce simply said, “It’s awesome … Everything is fresh and new.” She said she was also excited that local senior citizens will be able to take advantage of the reduced prices on groceries.
Aaron LeFever, Aldi director of operations, said that there are over 106 Aldi stores in New York state, and the Cazenovia location will be the 78th store in the region. In addition to bringing lower grocery prices to Cazenovia, the new Aldi also brings with it a small carbon footprint, he said.
In addition to using multiple energy-saving technologies such as LED lighting and the use of recycled and low emitting materials, the Cazenovia store is the first Aldi in the nation to feature subfloor heating that uses recycled waste heat from the refrigeration system to achieve low energy use and reduce emissions, LaFever said.
The Cazenovia location the third Aldi store to open in the area, following the opening of Norwich’s store in April and the Baldwinsville location in July. Fulton’s Aldi has a soft opening slated for early January.
The Aldi corporation plans on remodeling 1,300 stores by 2020, and plans to expand to 2,500 stores nationwide by the end of 2022, according to a press release from June this year. With that expected growth, Aldi would be the third largest grocery store in the nation.
