Discount grocery chain Aldi is planning a $9B expansion that will open 800 new stores across the country by the end of 2028.

Some of the locations are former Winn-Dixies and Harveys Supermarkets that Aldi acquired in its acquisition of Southeastern Grocers, a deal that was announced in August 2023 but closed this week. The deal involved roughly 400 stores in the southeastern United States.

A “significant number” of Winn-Dixies and Harveys Supermarkets will be converted into Aldis over the next several years, according to the company, with about 50 beginning the conversion later this year and reopening as Aldis in 2025. An unspecified number will retain their Winn-Dixie and Harveys brands.

Aldi is heavily concentrated in Florida, the Midwest and the Northeast. More stores will open in those regions, but Aldi also says it will open stores in the West, where it currently has few outside of Southern California. The company didn't announce a timetable for that part of its planned expansion.

Consolidation in the grocery store sector has become a more common occurrence in the U.S., but not all deals go as smoothly as Aldi's takeover of Southeastern.

The Federal Trade Commission filed suit late in February to stop the merger of Albertsons and Kroger. That $24.6B deal would eliminate competition and drive grocery prices higher, according to the agency.

Attorneys general in Washington and Colorado are also suing to prevent the deal, and other states might do so as well, Supermarket News reports.

If the deal is completed despite legal action, Kroger and Albertsons combined would operate more than 5,000 stores nationwide. Aldi currently has about 2,400 locations, representing a doubling over the last decade.