Aldi to spend billions on new stores and remodels

Aldi announced earlier this year that it plans to remodel more than 1,300 stores by 2020 at a cost of $1.6 billion. The remodeled stores will focus on fresh items, including produce, dairy and bakery sections, and feature open ceilings, natural lighting and environmentally-friendly building materials.

Currently Aldi owns and operates about 1,600 stores in the U.S., and by the end of 2018 it expects the number of stores to exceed 2,000. The company says that an investment totaling about $3 billion will be necessary to acquire land, facilities and equipment for the new stores.

Locations for new stores coming soon to the Greater Philadelphia market include Limerick, PA and Voorhees, NJ, among others.

Walmart to invest billions in food pricing

Last week Walmart's chief merchandising officer said the company plans to invest $6 billion in retail pricing by 2017, with the investment primarily in food and consumables. He also said they expect to have more than 500 Neighborhood Markets operating - with total sales of $10 billion - by fiscal 2016.

According to Walmart's website, there are currently about 200 Neighborhood Market stores and they are approximately 38,000 square feet (SF) each.

The website states that "Walmart Neighborhood Markets offer fresh produce, meat and dairy products, bakery and deli items, household supplies, health and beauty aids and a pharmacy."

There are currently about 3,000 Walmart Supercenters (182,000 SF) and 600 Walmart Discount stores (106,000 SF) in the United States.