Bristol shoppers are getting a second Aldi location on October 29, when the discount grocer opens its doors at 1235 Farmington Avenue in Bristol Farms Plaza. The new store occupies about 20,000 square feet carved out of a larger, roughly 45,000-square-foot building that formerly housed Big Lots, placing it alongside existing plaza tenants Hobby Lobby and Edge Fitness.
According to The Connecticut Scoop, Aldi will host a sneak peek day on October 28 for shoppers to check out the new store before it formally opens the following day. The first 200 customers in line on opening day will receive a golden ticket that could be worth up to $100, along with a bag of Aldi products, the outlet reports. Aldi employees also plan to hand out free eco-friendly shopping totes stuffed with products, though those totes are limited in quantity. Once open, the store will run its regular hours of 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week.
The rest of the former Big Lots building — roughly 25,000 square feet adjacent to the new grocery store — is being taken over by discount retailer American Liquidations, per The Connecticut Scoop. The split effectively re-tenants the entire anchor space that Big Lots vacated.
From Shuttered Big Lots to Two New Tenants
Big Lots added the Farmington Avenue storefront to its store closure list in October 2024, amid the chain's financial distress, closure plans and liquidation sales, according to Patch. That left the building empty before the current redevelopment got underway. The redevelopment will convert part of the former big-box store for Aldi.
The Farmington Avenue location will add an Aldi store in Bristol.
A Busy Corridor for a Growing Chain
Bristol Farms Plaza sits along a stretch of Route 6 and Farmington Avenue. The Bristol opening also follows closely on the heels of another Aldi launch in central Connecticut: the chain opened a store on October 1 in East Windsor at 151 Prospect Hill Road, as reported by WFSB.
The Bristol opening adds to Aldi's Connecticut presence. The pace of openings in the state fits into a much larger national push: Aldi has announced a $9 billion, five-year strategy aimed at reaching 800 new locations by the end of 2028, according to Grocery Dive.
