BEAVERCREEK — ALDI loyalists lined the shopping center sidewalk with their carts Aug. 15 for the re-opening of the Lakeview Drive store that was damaged during the Memorial Day tornadoes.
Customers at the front of the line had been waiting since 4 a.m., including James and Paula Brooks, for the 8:30 a.m. opening which included golden tickets in exchange for gift cards ranging $10 to $100, free eco-bags and a chance to win produce for a year.
“Welcome back!” customers yelled, clapping, as ALDI staff walked out of the store.
“We are so happy to be back,” Sarah Brown, ALDI Springfield division vice president, said. “We’re thrilled to be opening the store, really so quickly. Our operations team, our real estate team — the next day they were already hard at work. After 24 hours this store looked very different than it did the morning after Memorial Day.”
After the tornadoes, ALDI sent more than 700 food boxes to The Dayton Foodbank.
“They were here to donate all the product that was still very good to us to be able to give out to people that were struck by the tornadoes and also gave us disaster relief boxes so we could get those into the hands of people who needed them,” Lora Davenport, The Dayton Foodbank programs and advocacy manager, said.
The store also got an unanticipated remodel with a few changes — including the moving of produce to the front of the store.
“It was a beautiful store before and it’s still beautiful,” Brown said.
Brown, a local resident, said she’s been getting questions from community members about when the store would open.
“It was incredible that the Beavercreek customers continued to shop us at local nearby stores even when this store was down,” she said. “The Beavercreek community has been fantastic.”