ALDI to hold grand opening for its first Maine location on Thursday, March 26
PORTLAND, Maine —
The popular discount grocery chain ALDI will open its first Maine location on Thursday.
ALDI is holding a grand opening celebration for the new store at 1100 Brighton Ave. in Portland with a ribbon cutting scheduled for 8:45 a.m.
Maine’s Total Coverage got a sneak peek inside the store ahead of the grand opening. See what the inside of the store looks like in the video at the top of this page.
ALDI touts itself as having the lowest prices of any national grocery store brand. Chris Daniels, ALDI’s Northeast regional vice president, said that with food insecurity and the cost of living on the rise, keeping prices low counts for a lot.
“A family of four will typically save 36% on average on their grocery bill. In a year, that equates to about $4,000,” Daniels said. “In the news cycle, it’s inflation. It’s gas prices. It’s tariffs. It’s all these things. So we’re able to offer this to Portland customers here (and) they’re going to be so excited.”
ALDI initially planned to open the store in the former Big Lots on Brighton Avenue before the end of 2025, but that was pushed back. In October 2025, a spokesperson said they hoped to open in the first part of 2026. The company then told Maine’s Total Coverage that it expected to open the Portland location in March before finalizing an opening date of March 26.
Daniels told Maine’s Total Coverage in February that “construction shifts” changed the opening timeline of ALDI’s Portland store.
He previously told Maine’s Total Coverage ALDI planned to hire 15 to 20 full- and part-time employees to work at the new location.
ALDI is headquartered in Germany and has more than 12,500 stores around the world, including more than 2,400 locations in the United States.
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