Budget supermarket Lidl to invest £55 million into a new centre and creating up to 400 jobs.
The chain announced in November last year that it planned to invest £1.5 billion in Britain over three years to boost the number of warehouses and stores.
Its new Southampton warehouse is the size of ten football pitches and is the biggest of the German retailer’s ten UK regional distribution centres (RDCs).
Marco Ivone, regional director at Lidl UK, said: “The opening of our new Southampton RDC marks an incredibly exciting time for the business, particularly in the south.
“Not only is it necessary to accommodate the scale of our existing and future operations in the area, we have been able to create significant job opportunities as a result of the new warehouse and will continue to invest in the south as we move forward with our expansion plans.”
Since coming to the UK in 1994, Lidl has grown consistently and has more than 640 stores in England, Scotland and Wales.
The cut-price supermarket has shaken up the supermarket sector by providing premium goods like steak and champagne at bargain prices.
Along with Aldi, the store has outstripped the big four supermarkets in terms of growth.
Lidl is now hoping to get one over on wine snobs by flogging cheap plonk from vineyards near some of the best producers in the world.
They have even trumped pricey Chanel perfume – with customers claiming Lidl’s £4 alternative smells just as good.
And even living near a Lidl is a boost because it adds £4,000 to a home’s value
Earlier this year, Lidl said it would relocate warehouses in Weston-Super-Mare and Livingston to Bristol and Eurocentral.
It is also opening two new warehouses in Wednesbury and Exeter, while expanding its RDCs in Newton Aycliffe and Runcorn.
Lidl’s sales grew by 8.4 per cent and its market share rose to 4.6 per cent, according to the latest Kantar Worldpanel figures published in October.
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