Lidl has reached the milestone of 860 stores in Great Britain. This forms part of Lidl’s £1.3bn investment plans for 2021 and 2022, which includes opening 50 new stores this year, creating 2,000 new jobs.

This comes as the discounter has published its annual list of desired locations across the country where it is interested in acquiring sites for potential store developments. Of particular focus this year includes town centre, edge of centre, retail park and metropolitan locations.

The list of site requirements comes as Lidl’s store expansion continues at pace, despite the ongoing restrictions caused by the pandemic. So far this year Lidl has opened more than 20 new stores across the country.

The list of desirable locations for new stores is aimed at landowners and freeholders with suitable sites who are interested in exploring opportunities with Lidl.

Christian Härtnagel, CEO at Lidl GB said: “We are calling on developers and landlords up and down the country to help find potential sites for us to build Lidl stores, which demonstrates the continued ambition we have to further expand our store portfolio across the nation. Despite the challenges of the past year, we still managed to meet our ambitious target of opening, on average, one new store per week across Great Britain.

“We are looking forward to opening more stores throughout the country and welcoming new colleagues in the coming months and years, so that more communities can access high quality food at the lowest prices on the market.”

All stores will include Lidl’s famous Bakery, offering freshly baked bread, biscuits and pastries, created by the discounter’s in-store bakers throughout the day. In addition to offering quality food at great value, all new Lidl stores will feature solar panels on the exterior to provide renewable energy for the site, in addition to the installation of electric vehicle charging points. Each new store will also become part of Lidl’s food redistribution programme Feed It Back, which sees surplus food donated to those within local communities that need it the most, via food banks or partner charities.