Residents rally to save Bottom Dollar

In November, the Belgian holding company that owns Bottom Dollar Food agreed to sell all 66 of its Pennsylvania stores to Aldi for $15 million. All of the stores, including the 20 in the greater Pittsburgh area, are slated to close by the end of the month.
On Dec. 22, residents and activists in Bloomfield held a rally outside the Bottom Dollar at 5200 Penn Avenue—which only opened in June—seeking an alternative.
“This isn’t their store. This is our store,” said city Councilman Rev. Ricky Burgess. “This is a community store.”
Bottom Dollar stormed into the Pittsburgh market in 2012 with its “flying pig” advertisements and plans to open hundreds more stores in the ensuing five years. Now 600 or so Bottom Dollar employees from Butler to Baldwin and from North Hills to Penn Hills are looking for work, and as of yet have no indication Aldi will hire them.
Burgess said though the jobs are important, keeping the store, or one like it, in the community is the bigger issue and Aldi needs to inform the community of its plans.