No-frills grocery empire finally gets Beaufort’s OK to build new store in shopping center

More discount shopping options are coming to Beaufort after German supermarket empire Aldi Grocery Stores received the approval it needs to build a 21,000-square-foot store. The approval followed two years of back-and-forth with the design-conscious city over the building details.

With Monday’s unanimous approval by the Planning Commission of its site plan, Aldi, known for its low prices and non-brand name labels and where customers bag their own groceries, can now begin construction at 361 Robert Smalls Parkway. The store is the anchor tenant within the $60 million Beaufort Station, a massive shopping center rising at the heavily trafficked intersection of Robert Smalls Parkway and Parris Island Gateway. The center is across from Cross Creek, another shopping plaza that includes a Wall-Mart Super Center.

The 31-acre Beaufort Station, which will be the largest shopping center between Charleston and Savannah, has been under construction for more than a year. The Aldi store is planned on 2.3 acres, and will face Robert Smalls Parkway.

While the city previously approved the overall Beaufort Station configuration, individual stores still are being reviewed for compliance with the city’s finicky design and architectural standards.

Aldi first submitted plans in January 2022 but they’ve been rejected until now. The main issue of concern has been the design and architecture of the building facing Robert Smalls Parkway — primarily Aldi’s proposal to build a plain wall instead of building frontage.

To satisfy those frontage standards, Aldi agreed to build a covered pedestrian colonnade and to include windows and/or doors on 40% of the first-floor wall area and the same on 15% of upper floors.

The city’s new Planning Commission, meeting for the first time, unanimously approved those changes Monday. The Planning Commission has absorbed the duties of now disbanded Design Review Board, which had previously turned down another Aldi design plan.

Curt Freese, the city’s Community Development Department director, said changes Aldi made in new plans submitted last week address the frontage issues.

“They are breaking up the walls, they’re breaking up the architecture, they’re providing windows,” Freese said.

Beaufort Station developers previously said that the shopping center is scheduled to open this summer. Besides Aldi, other tenants include PetSmart, TJ Maxx, Home Goods, Five Below, Rack Room Shoes, Hobby Lobby, Ross Dress for Less, Ulta Beauty and Old Navy. Restaurants will include Surcheros Fresh Mex and Chicken Salad Chick and Panda Express, the largest Asian-segment restaurant chain in the country.

Mattress Firm, America’s Best Contacts and Eye Glasses, Le Nails and Parker’s Kitchen, the convenience store and gas station, also are planned.

The Beaufort Aldi is another example of the company’s expansion into the Lowcountry grocery store market.

In January, an Aldi store opened to great fanfare at 1131 Fording Island Road in Bluffton. And Town of Hilton Head planners have had preliminary discussions with Aldi about a store at Sea Turtle Marketplace.

Aldi’s history spans 70 years

Anna Albrecht opened a small food store in Essen, Germany in 1913. In 1948, her sons took over the store and expanded to four locations. The name Aldi, which stands for Albrecht Discount, came along in 1962. Today, Aldi operates thousands of stores in 10 countries including more than 2,300 in 38 states in the U.S. The first U.S. store was in Iowa.