As a pre-emptive strike against the imminent U.S. debut of Lidl, Aldi announced Monday that it will greatly accelerate its expansion in the U.S. with a goal of 2,500 stores by the end of 2022. This amounts to a staggering 900 or so new locations on top of the 1,300 stores existing U.S. stores that Aldi is already planning to remodel and expand. Aldi is planning $5 billion in capital expenditures at a time when most retailers are pulling back from physical store growth. This would give the German discount chain the third highest store count in the U.S. and by my estimate, easily make Aldi one of the top 10 food retailers in the U.S. in terms of overall volume.