<p>Klaus Gehrig, CEO of Lidl's parent company, Schwarz Group, recently made statements in the German newspaper <i>Heilbronner Stimme</i>, which confirmed <b>Lidl's plans to build US stores</b>.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">At the end of the 2013 fiscal year, Lidl had stores in <b>26 countries</b>.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Schwarz is surpassing Metro to become one of Europe's largest grocery retailers. In 2013, the Schwarz Group reported <b>10% sales growth</b>, with a total of 74 billion euros, 54 billion of which came from Lidl. In addition to nearly <b>10,000 Lidl stores</b>, Schwarz also has another 1,150 Kaufland Hypermarkets, according to retaildetail.eu.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">Lidl's expansion is still a few years away, with stores in the US expected starting in <b>2018</b>. How will this European discount grocer fare in the United States' competitive grocery retail landscape? It will be interesting to see what kind of format Lidl chooses for its US launch and whether the retailer will be as successful in the states as it has been in Europe.<hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding"><a class="btn btn-sm btn-primary col-lg-12" style="white-space: normal;" href="http://www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/www_lidl_uk" target="_new"> Lidl </a></p><hr class="legacyRuler"><hr class="invisible minimal-padding">
