Lidl’s new Bedford Avenue store in Crown Heights opens its doors, marking the European grocery chain’s fourth location in Brooklyn.
Photo by Susan De Vries
Shoppers flocked to Lidl’s newest Brooklyn location on opening day Wednesday, March 18, in Crown Heights. The European grocery chain, known for its rotating selection of affordable gourmet items, now operates four stores in the borough.
The Bedford Avenue store, at 1730 Bedford near Empire Boulevard, is part of a new mixed-use development replacing a 1936 Art Deco Firestone Auto Supply and Service building, not far from the former site of Ebbets Field.
Opening-day promotions included free coffee and 49-cent croissants, while an arch of red, blue, and yellow balloons marked the entrance. In addition to standard groceries and household goods, the store stocked spring gardening tools and potted plants.
The mixed-use building housing Lidl and Chipotle also features balconies on Sullivan Place, bringing new life to the block.Photo by Susan De Vries
The new cream brick building improves on its renderings. It’s a modern and simple four-story box on the Empire Boulevard side, and seven stories with balconies on the Sullivan Place side.
Chipotle has also opened in the building, and the office space is still up for lease, according to a sign in the window. The Lidl store will be open daily from 8 a.m. until 9 p.m.
Rendering via Eastern Union
Other nearby groceries include Western Beef Supermarket on Empire Boulevard, also known for low prices, Lincoln Market near Flatbush in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, and Union Market on Bedford in north Crown Heights.
The Art Deco service station’s streamlined curves and prominent signage dominated the corner for decades, despite it being only one story.
A version of this story first appeared on Brooklyn Paper’s sister site Brownstoner