Aldi finally has an opening date at Penn Daw’s South Alex development

(Updated at 4:10 p.m.) In two weeks, a new grocery store will finally open in Penn Daw’s South Alex development.

Aldi is opening its newest location at 6218 N. Kings Hwy on Thursday, March 2, the company announced today. It will be Aldi’s eighth Fairfax County store.

The store opens at 9 a.m., and the first 100 customers will receive a gift bag “with a sampling of ALDI Fan Favorites products and a gift card as part of the ALDI Golden Ticket gift card giveaway program,” a press release says.

The “golden ticket” program enters shoppers into a raffle to win $500 in Aldi gift cards.

Jeff Baehr, Aldi’s Frederick regional vice president, told FFXnow in an email the Alexandria store fits what they are looking for in new locations.

“The new Alexandria store will feature open ceilings, natural lighting, environmentally friendly building materials and additional refrigeration for even more fresh produce, meat and grab-and-go options. Additionally, at the new store, ALDI will offer grocery pickup and delivery.

When it comes to choosing new store locations, we carefully consider several factors. Above all else, we look for convenient locations for our customers that can support a high traffic volume daily. We look forward to serving the Alexandria community with this new store, ensuring the design and experience match the quality of our products.”

The grocery store moves into the South Alex development just off of Richmond Highway and about a mile from the Huntington Metro. The development also includes 41 townhouses, 400 apartments, and other ground-floor retail.

The project has been on the drawing board and delayed for a number of years.

Fairfax County first rezoned the 10-acre parcel of land where the mixed-used development now sits in 2012. The Board of Supervisors approved the project in 2014, and the existing, five-decade-old Penn Daw Shopping Center was demolished in 2016.

Fresh Market was initially scheduled to go into the new development but pulled out of the deal. Nonetheless, ground broke in 2018 on the project, which was renamed South Alex instead of One Kings.

Two years later, a massive fire caused nearly $50 million in damages and set the project back significantly. South Alex finally opened to residents last summer, and Aldi anticipated that it could start selling by the end of the year.

That didn’t quite happen, but in early March, it’s looking like a grocery store at the new Penn Daw mixed-use development will finally be ready to open.

Once it opens, the store will operate daily from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Aldi has over 1,000 stores in the U.S. and several in Fairfax County, including locations in Kingstowne and Mount Vernon.

The development is also advertising leasing opportunities for other businesses, but none have been confirmed as of yet.