Supermarket giant Aldi has announced it will open its three new Kent stores later this year creating a huge number of jobs.

The UK’s fifth largest and fastest growing supermarket will open seven new stores in total in the South East this year, creating more than 210 new roles.

The new developments include stores that are currently under construction such as those in Deal, Hythe and Tunbridge Wells.

These stores will be in Aldi’s new store layout, which ensures more space for fresh, chilled and food-to-go ranges as well as simpler layouts and brighter, wider aisles.

They will stock all grocery essentials and the ‘Specially Selected’ range, as well as products from British suppliers, which means all their everyday fresh meat range is 100% British.

The supermarket is also refurbishing five stores across the region. This is part of Aldi’s £300m investment to convert its existing stores into its more customer-focused layout, and each upgrade will create additional jobs in the community.

Aldi recently achieved a record market share of 8% and attracted more shoppers than Morrisons in the first quarter of the year. The supermarket currently operates more than 825 stores, including more than 70 stores in the South East, and plans to extend its offer to even more households as it works towards 1,200 UK stores by 2025.

Ben Shotter, Regional Managing Director at Aldi UK said: “We’ve set out ambitious plans for this year and we’re investing heavily across the South East to ensure even more people in the region can shop and save closer to home.

“We have a fantastic team across the area and this means we can grow and offer even more employment opportunities for local people.

“We’re excited to see how the stores develop over the next few months and I would encourage local people to keep an eye out for recruitment opportunities.”

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