Aldi, a national supermarket chain, is advertising for a management position for a location in Grand Forks.
The position – for a full-time assistant store manager – has been posted on the Aldi website, as well as through Job Service of North Dakota. No other information, including about when a store would presumably open, is included in the posting. Few details were available Tuesday morning.
According to Dustin Hillebrand, workforce center manager at Job Service North Dakota in Grand Forks, companies that relocate here often send in a manager from outside the region, then proceed with hiring locally. Hillebrand doesn’t know any other details, other than the actual posting for the assistant manager position.
“I know some other companies that we've had come into town, they'll hire their store managers first, and go from there,” said Hillebrand. “Then they fill the rest of the roster. ...”
The address listed for the job posting is 32nd Avenue South and South Columbia Road, presumably the building that previously housed a Hornbacher’s grocery store that closed in 2018 after three years in business in Grand Forks.
ADVERTISEMENT
East Grand Forks/Grand Forks Chamber President and CEO Barry Wilfahrt said he had heard that the supermarket chain has been interested in the region for “quite a while,” though he did not have other details. Wilfahrt told the Herald that Aldi is one of the many companies that has made use of a recent market capture study, commissioned by the Chamber.
“There is that data available, and I know that they would be one of many companies that have looked at and utilized that data,” Wilfahrt said.
Previous to Hornbacher’s moving to the city, that location housed a Super One grocery store.
Hornbacher’s announced it was closing after its parent company sold the chain to another retailer, according to Herald reports at the time. Shortly after it was announced it would be closing, the store liquidated its inventory. It officially closed in December of 2018 .
The Grand Forks grocery landscape generally is dominated by the locally owned and operated Hugo’s Family Marketplace chain, which has 10 locations overall in North Dakota and northwest Minnesota, including four in Grand Forks and one in East Grand Forks. A new Hugo’s store is under construction in downtown Grand Forks. Aside from Hugo’s, grocery stores are operated by retailers Target, Walmart and Sam’s Club. Also, Natural Grocers has a location in south Grand Forks.
According to corporate information from the company’s website, Aldi was founded in 1961 in Germany. The company came to the United States in 1976, when it opened its first store in Iowa. In the U.S., the supermarket chain is headquartered in Batavia, Ill., and has more than 2,000 stores spread across 36 states. The company employs more than 25,000 people.
Aldi also has locations in Bemidji, Minn., and Fargo.
