In recent years, Fenton’s businesses have seen an economic boom. Many restaurants and retailers, such as Xolo, Mediterranean Street Food and T.J. Maxx have come to Fenton within the past few years. Aldi is looking to be one of Fenton’s newest additions.

Aldi is a discount grocery store similar to Walmart. Groceries at Aldi’s are typically cheaper than most other grocery stores. The chain was founded in 1946 by Karl and Theo Albrecht in Germany. The Aldi group owns and operates 10,000 stores worldwide.

The Fenton Area Public School district put a piece of land up for sale in 2018, and a purchase agreement was signed shortly after. 

”The purchase agreement has had several extensions to finalize the sale and purchase from Keystone Development Company, which is brokering the sale for Aldi food,” Superintendent Heidie Ciesielski said. “To put a long story short, the sale has not been finalized yet. The reasoning for selling the land was something the board and superintendent at the time decided would be beneficial to district initiatives.”

The money from the sale would then be put into a safety and security fund to help reconfigure the Andrew G. Schmidt Middle School entrance.

The planned Aldi will be put behind the bleachers of the football stadium, out past the shot-put and discus areas. The planned construction may impact track and field practice and competitions because of the proximity of the shot put and discus pits to the planned build site; however, according to Ciesielski, FHS Principal Michael Bakker, Athletic Director Edward Uhrik and Director of Operations Joe Humpert have a plan ready to help ensure that these events are still playable.

”Once the sale has been finalized (meaning final approval of the site, traffic, and engineering plans) this will tell us the impact of our current athletic facilities,” Ciesielski said.

A concrete build date is not yet known.