Discount grocery store chain Aldi will be a tenant at a Waukesha Kohl’s store, leasing 26,000 square feet of space that has been vacant since the Menomonee Falls-based retailer downsized the store in February.
This is the first local Kohl’s store that is leasing space to an Aldi store since Kohl’s Corp. and Aldi announced a pilot program to partner in March.
Aldi stores will be added to as many as 10 Kohl’s locations this year as Kohl’s continues to reduce the size of many of its stores.
If successful, the deal could be expanded to the hundreds of Kohl’s stores that have been “rightsized” by the company over the last year.
Kohl’s, like every other brick-and-mortar retailer, is trying to adapt to the changing habits of shoppers in recent years. It announced last year that nearly half of its stores will be operationally smaller by the end of 2017.
In February, Kohl’s downsized its store at 2140 W. St. Paul Ave. by 26,000 square feet, at the time showing a retailer adjacent to the store. The Waukesha Plan Commission on Wednesday will review Aldi’s final site and architectural plans for the space.
Aldi has been growing rapidly in southeastern Wisconsin. The grocer will lease a portion of the former Sendik’s Food Market store in West Milwaukee. Aldi is and is also planning to build a 22,000 square foot store in Menomonee Falls and stores in Oak Creek and Glendale.
