Shoppers across all incomes now favor these stores, boosting demand for small-format, short-term leases.

Amid continuing change in the retail industry, one sector that’s offering shopping carts full of promise is the discount grocery channel. Chains such as Aldi, Lidl, Grocery Outlet, and deep discounters Dollar Tree and Dollar General have consistently opened new stores. Monitoring how, where and by how much they expand will serve real estate owners and investors well in the years ahead, experts say.

Small-footprint Aldi’s August announcement it will acquire 400 larger-footprint Winn-Dixie and Harvey’s supermarkets in early 2024 holds special meaning for investors and owners. So said Daniel Gielchinsky, founding partner of DGIM Law in Miami, Fla.