A popular grocery store will be opening soon in the Western Branch area.

An ALDI will replace the Dollar Tree in the Chesapeake Crossings Plaza. Construction began in April of this year, Jeff Baehr, vice president for ALDI’s Frederick Division, stated in a response to emailed questions.

The store will be close to the existing ALDI on High Street, which will give the chain good coverage in the area, according to Marc Steiner, a FranNet franchise business consultant for southeastern Virginia.

“The neighborhood approach means that they cluster stores together so that the market is well covered,” Steiner stated in a Facebook post on the Western Branch Coming Together page.

The 12,873 square foot building will offer a variety of energy-saving features and customer benefits, company officials stated.

The store will feature energy-saving refrigeration and LED lighting. In addition, several artificial flavor enhancers and oils have been removed from ALDI’s store brand food products, which make up 90 percent of the products.

The store will also implement its Healthier Checklanes initiative by the end of the year. This encourages shoppers to make healthier choices and to eliminate unhealthy impulse purchases at the checkout line, according to Baehr.

Little Journey, the store’s new line of baby products, will also be available.

The store’s growing popularity is tied, at least in part, to its low-cost products. In comparison to leading national grocery stores, customers save up to 50 percent on their expenses, according to Baehr.

ALDI, one of the nation’s fastest growing retailers, currently has nearly 1,500 stores nationwide and hopes to have close to 2,000 by the end of 2018, according to Baehr.

Baehr stated there are plans to open to up additional stores in Virginia Beach and Newport News. An additional ALDI was opened in Williamsburg earlier this month.