Is Aldi Coming To San Francisco Or Northern California? (Full Guide)

The beautiful city of San Francisco is well known for its picturesque bay area, stunning bridge views, and very expensive cost of living.

In fact, current numbers suggest that the average rent in San Francisco is actually more expensive than real estate-nightmare New York City!

Obviously, not everyone in San Francisco and northern California are millionaires, so how do they keep normal utilities like grocery bills down?

Unfortunately, they don’t yet have the help of German discount grocery Aldi. Is Aldi coming to San Francisco or northern California? Read on.

Is Aldi Coming To San Francisco Or Northern California?

Unfortunately, according to their announced plans, no Aldi stores are planning to come to San Francisco or Northern California. While a new store did open in California, that was in Torrence, near Los Angeles. Aldi is staying on track with their plans to expand along the Gulf Coast, focusing on states like Florida and Alabama.

To learn more about why Aldi isn’t coming to the San Fran area, where stores could go if/when they decide to, and where budget-minded shoppers can go instead, see below!

Why Isn’t Aldi Coming To San Francisco Or Northern California?

Rather than build in San Francisco or Northern California, Aldi has turned their attentions to different parts of the U.S.

While we can’t know the thought process behind how the company maps its plans, we can trust that Aldi has a team of marketing experts analyzing everything from population density, competitiveness of the discount grocery market and potential building sites.

Aldi announced their expansion plans for the U.S. as far back as 2017 when the chain still had less than 2,000 stores in the States, but clearly, the company had heard the call for more.

They would focus on two things: building up new stores in California, Arizona, and especially Florida and the Gulf Coast region, bolstered by the new distribution center, which broke ground in winter 2021 in Loxley, Alabama, and renovating existing stores in the Northeast region.

Before that, Aldi had opened its first cluster of stores in California in Moreno Valley (outside of San Bernardino) in 2016; the expansion plans kept the new stores clustered in Southern California rather than moving into the northern part of the huge state.

As of this writing, Aldi hasn’t shared their plans beyond, so who knows – they could be coming to any number of new cities or states in the near future!

Where Could Aldi Stores Be Potentially Located If Aldi Came To San Francisco or Northern California?

Obviously, San Francisco would be a highly desired area for Aldi to plant its first NorCal stores – lots of people, but I’d imagine sufficient real estate would be tricky to find.

Sacramento would be another good city to see Aldi stores, as well as Modesto, San Jose, and Redding.

Remember that California is close to a few large, non-Aldi states, like Nevada and Oregon, that would benefit from locations in NorCal; Nevada’s capital city, Carson City, is only a two-hour drive to Sacramento.

Then, Aldi in NorCal would benefit Californians; it could be such a boon for neighboring states without any Aldi goodness.

Where Is The Closest Aldi To San Francisco And Northern California?

While shoppers in a city like Seattle would have to drive almost 500 miles to access an Aldi, San Franciscans don’t have to traverse quite as far: a mere 160 miles to the Fresno, CA, location.

While not ideal, it’s not out of the range of a day trip.

Where Can Shoppers Go Instead Of Aldi In San Francisco or Northern California?

Shoppers in the Bay Area looking for a little retail relief can try grocery stores like Raley’s, Safeway, and Lucky Supermarkets.

NorCal is also host to Costco and WinCo Foods, which offer more of a warehouse experience, but have a great selection and can be perfect for keeping bigger families fed on a budget.

If you are looking to learn more about Aldi, you can also read our related posts on if Aldi is coming to Utah or Salt Lake City, if Aldi is coming to Seattle or Washington, and if Aldi is coming to Las Vegas or Nevada.

Conclusion

While San Franciscans and NorCal residents won’t see Aldi stores in their area soon, the discount supermarkets are within a two-to-three-hour car ride’s distance.

I can’t imagine a world where Aldi doesn’t eventually expand into the Northern California region; we’ll all be eagerly awaiting Aldi’s next announced moves beyond 2022!