Lidl hunts new supermarket sites in Greater Manchester - and you can earn cash by finding one

Lidl has released a list of desired new locations across Greater Manchester and will potentially give a finders fee of over £20,000 to members of the public who succesfully identify a potential site.

The discounter is carrying out a £1.3bn expansion of its UK operations and is turning to the British people for help in finding suitable locations for its stores.

The supermarket publishes each year a list of places where it would like to open and the requirements for it to do so.

Here’s where Lidl is thinking about operating in Greater Manchester and what you can expect if you know the right place.

Where does Lidl want to build new stores in Greater Manchester?

The city-region is clearly an area in Lidl’s sights as it has released a long list of potential sites for new supermarkets.

These include Ashton-under-Lyne North, Atherton , Bolton East and Bolton West, Breightmet, Bury East, Heywood, Hollinwood and Horwich.

In Manchester the retailer is looking for sites in Altrincham, Ancoats, Ardwick, Blackley, Bramhall, Bredbury, Burnage, Carrington, Chorlton, Collyhurst, Crumpsall, Deansgate, Didsbury East, Didsbury West, Droylsden, Eastlands, Edgeley, Gatley, Gorton, Hazel Grove, Heald Green, Hulme, Hyde, Marple, Middleton, Miles Platting, New Mills, Old Trafford, Ordsall, Pendlebury, Reddish, Romiley, Sale, Sale Moor, Stalybridge, Swinton, Timperley, Urmston or Flixton, Victoria, Walkden, Whalley Range, Whitefield and Wythenshawe.

The list also includes Mossley, Oldham East, Shaw in Oldham Orrell, Ramsbottom, Rochdale South, Salford Quays, Stockport Centre, Stockport South, Heaton Chapel in Stockport and Goose Green and Hindley in Wigan.

In addition Lidl wants to relocate its existing stores in Astley Bridge in Bolton, Leigh, Irlam, Newton Heath, Standish and Westhoughton.

What do I have to do to find a suitable location and what happens if I am successful?

Lidl has a national set of store requirements that prospective locations must meet.

They must be in prominent locations with easy access and strong pedestrian or traffic flow and have freehold, leasehold or long leasehold opportunities.

Units must be between 18,000 and 26,500 sq ft with 100 or more dedicated car parking spaces.

Standalone stores must be on sites of at least 1.5 acres for standalone, while mixed-use schemes can be up to four acres.

Lidl also wants its stores to be in town centres or on the edge of urban centres or on retail parks.

Anyone who thinks they know somewhere meeting these criteria should get in touch with Lidl’s property team.

The retailer is offering a finder’s fee of either 1.5% of the total freehold purchase price or 10% of the first year’s rent for leaseholds.

This would mean the finder of a site which was bought for £1.5m would receive £22,500.

What has Lidl said about the search for new sites?

Richard Taylor, chief development officer at Lidl GB, said: “We know that the majority of British shoppers still love doing their shopping in person and we are as committed as ever to opening new stores and enhancing our existing ones.

“We’re opening an average of one new store a week, which is incredible, and our teams have done a phenomenal job of keeping that pace going over the last couple of years.

“But there are still communities up and down the country that are telling us how much they want – and need - a Lidl store.

“We work with some of the best people in the industry to identify new sites, but we also know how engaged our future and existing customers are and we want to build on this.

“Our finder’s fees are, therefore, available to absolutely anyone that can identify a viable option for a new store that we’re not already aware of, and we welcome any suitable suggestions that will help up us to meet our ambitious target of 1,100 stores by the end of 2025.”