Aldi eyes Palatine shopping center for new grocery store

A plan to bring an Aldi grocery store to the Deer Grove Crossing Shopping Center in Palatine was recommended by the zoning board of appeals this week.

If approved by the village council when it comes up for a hearing on April 4, the discount grocer would open at 761 E. Dundee Road. The storefront was most recently occupied by a Staples.

Ben Vyverburg, Palatine's director of planning and economic development, said the Aldi won't be as large as some of the village's other past and present grocery stores.

“The Dominick's was probably around 50,000 square feet and Mariano's is closer to 70,000,” Vyverburg said. “The (Aldi) proposed square footage is about 15,000.”

Vyverburg said the space has been vacant since the Staples closed more than a year ago. There is more than enough parking in the Deer Grove Shopping Center to accommodate the new business, he added.

Store hours would be 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday.

Aldi operates more than 1,400 stores in 32 states.

The nearest Aldi store to Palatine is about two miles away at 1202 W. Dundee Road in Buffalo Grove.