In November, the Belgian holding company that owns Bottom Dollar Food agreed to sell all 66 of its Pennsylvania stores to Aldi for $15 million. All of the stores, including the 20 in the greater Pittsburgh area, are slated to close by the end of the month.
On Dec. 22, residents and activists in Bloomfield held a rally outside the Bottom Dollar at 5200 Penn Avenue—which only opened in June—seeking an alternative.
“This isn’t their store. This is our store,” said city Councilman Rev. Ricky Burgess. “This is a community store.”
Bottom Dollar stormed into the Pittsburgh market in 2012 with its “flying pig” advertisements and plans to open hundreds more stores in the ensuing five years. Now 600 or so Bottom Dollar employees from Butler to Baldwin and from North Hills to Penn Hills are looking for work, and as of yet have no indication Aldi will hire them.
Burgess said though the jobs are important, keeping the store, or one like it, in the community is the bigger issue and Aldi needs to inform the community of its plans.
In November an Aldi spokesperson indicated the company would be happy to speak to Bottom Dollar employees, but made no commitment to hire anyone. And though it plans to add about 700 stores across the country the next five years, Aldi has not revealed plans for any specific stores and said it would not do so until the sale is finalized.
State Rep. Ed Gainey, D-East Liberty, said before Bottom Dollar moved in, Garfield had been a food desert since the Giant Eagle store closed more than 20 years earlier.
Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald said international mergers and buy-outs happen all the time, but he wants to impress on Aldi that this particular store should be kept open.
“We just want them to know this is an important asset in a community on the move up,” he said. “Young families are moving in; a good grocery that sells healthy food is important to the community and will be supported by the community.”
During a meeting at Bloomfield Garfield Corp. following the rally, organizers and residents agreed that getting the message out to Aldi about being included in the discussion should be a priority. BGC Deputy Director Aggie Brose said she is concerned that the community won’t know the fate of this store for months.
“We’re looking at gaining a community asset. It’s been 21 years since Giant Eagle left and we worked very hard to get Bottom Dollar here,” she said. “We are advocates for the needs of our neighborhood, and at the end of the day, we want to retain a full grocery store at that site.”
There is another Aldi a mile away on Baum Boulevard, and the closest true grocery—the Sure Save at the foot of the Bloomfield Bridge is up for sale.
“The next closest store is in East Liberty,” she said. “And Whole Foods and Market District are too unaffordable for people in our community.”
Both Brose and Burgess said as a last resort, they would ask Aldi to sell the building to them and they would look for an operator to run it. Resident Jeanette Coleman, who walks to shop at the store, was disgusted.
“Six months—it took longer to get it here. Open for six months—that’s appalling to us,” she said. “I’m on foot. We have elderly in a high rise, and they could get here easier from the bus stop or in a cab. Now they can’t we have no store. “
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