Lidl (either leed-ul as pronounced in German and in recently-launched British TV commercials, or lid-ul) is a European discount supermarket chain of German origin that operates 5,000 stores. In Germany it is the most important competitor of Aldi. The full name of the company is Lidl Stiftung & Co KG. It belongs to the holding group Schwarz, which also owns the store chains Handelshof and Kaufland.

Lidl is the fifth largest supermarket chain in Germany (2004), and has established itself in over 17 countries around the world.

It was founded in the 1930s by a member of the Schwarz family, then called Schwarz Lebensmittel-Sortimentsgroßhandlung. In the 1970s the first Lidl stores of today's incarnation opened.

Countries with Lidl branches

Current

• Austria
• Belgium
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Hungary
• Ireland
• Italy
• The Netherlands
• Norway (the first ten stores opened September 23 2004)
• Poland
• Portugal
• Slovakia
• Spain
• Sweden
• United Kingdom

Planned

• Canada
• Croatia
• Estonia
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Romania
• Slovenia
• Switzerland

Competitors

• Aldi (7,000 stores)
• Netto (1,200 stores)
• Kwiksave (UK only)

External links

Official homepage

• Official homepage (in German)

Official homepages in other languages

• Croatian (Hrvatska)
• Danish (Danmark)
• Dutch (Nederland)
• Dutch-French (België-Belgique)
• English (United Kingdom)
• English (Ireland)
• Estonian (Eesti)
• Finnish (Suomi)
• French (France)
• Greek (Greece)
• Hungarian (Magyarország)
• Italian (Italia)
• Norwegian (Norge)
• Polish (Polska)
• Portuguese (Portugal)
• Spanish (Spain)
• Swedish (Sverige)
• Slovak (Slovensko)

Data

• Yahoo! - Lidl & Schwarz Stiftung & Co. KG Company Profile

Criticisms

• Every Lidl Hurts
• Ver.di's black book (German)

Supermarkets of Germany | Companies of Germany | Supermarkets of Finland | Supermarkets of the United Kingdom | Supermarkets of Sweden

Lidl | Lidl | Lidl | Lidl | Lidl | Lidl | ლიდლი | Lidl | Lidl | Lidl | Lidl | Lidl | Lidl | Lidl