CARY, N.C. — Leon Capital Group, the commercial real estate developers responsible for the planning and construction of a new Lidl location in Cary, have decided to file a lawsuit against the German grocery store chain, claiming Lidl’s intentions for the new North Carolina store were insincere.
The Dallas-based developing group blasts Lidl, calling their company “fraudulent” and “deceptive” in their planning to expand and open a Cary location. The lawsuit comes after Lidl experienced similar recent failures to open stores across the US and locally in Charlotte, Burlington and Wilmington.
Leon Capital Group issued a formal complaint against Lidl for taking advantage of their resources economically, signing the company to develop three store locations in Cary, Charlotte and Wilmington. The developers believe the grocery store chain knowingly withheld its intentions to later abandon the projects.
Lidl petitioned to open these North Carolina locations as part of its comprehensive US expansion plan, hoping to profit long-term from entering the booming grocery market, which is expected to reach a worth of $1.7 trillion by 2022.
The grocery store chain announced its expansion in 2016, targeting 2018 and 2019 for the opening of hundreds of stores nationwide. Yet, the complaint exposes Lidl for only opening around 50 out of the hundreds of stores it originally launched.
In their complaint, Leon Capital Group claims that Lidl “bit off more than it could chew” for one of two possible reasons: either “Lidl knew it was gambling with its overly ambitious expansion plan and designed an emergency exit constructed on deception and bad faith,” or “Lidl was grossly negligent int he execution of its U.S. expansion plan and committed business malfeasance on an epic scale and then purposely left innocent third parties with significant economic losses.”
Lidl has publicly defended itself repeatedly against the claims made in the complaint, insisting they were well-intentioned and did not foresee the necessary abandonment of new stores or the resulting economic loss.
On the other hand, Lidl CEO Klaus Gehrig, admits the grocery store chain did a “poor job” in selecting locations across the U.S. that would prosper. Instead, the company chose stores “too big and expensive to be profitable,” he says.
Leon Capital Group reveals Lidl promised to open Cary and Charlotte stores despite their cancellation of the Wilmington project. The complaint included a quote from the director of real estate at Lidl dated Nov. 15, 2017, ensuring the completion of stores in Cary and Charlotte.
Lidl pulled out of the Cary project a month later and failed to follow through with opening the Charlotte location as well, cancelling that project in January 2018.
Other developers have suffered losses as a result of Lidl’s shortcomings, such as another NC development group tasked to complete a Burlington store. Yet, Lidl remains steadfast in its claim that they have not wronged North Carolina in any way.
“Lidl is a company that takes its business responsibilities seriously, and we have exceeded all of our commitments to the State of North Carolina,” says Harwood, communications director at Lidl.
Lidl claims the complaint lacks truth in its attacks on the company’s business operations. They plan to settle the lawsuit without any impactful damages to their name.
