Hundreds of Aldi shoppers queue through the night to be first through the doors at new store
HUNDREDS of shoppers queued through the night in a bid to be the first to get their hands on bargains at a new ALDI store.
Excited customers started to line up as early as 4am ahead of the supermarket opening at 8am yesterday.
More than 200 eager shoppers queued up to try and get their hands on some free giveaways as part of the opening celebrations at the store in Abbey Lane, Leicester.
They were also there to grab low cost produce, such as the famed Wagyu burgers Aldi infrequently has in stock.
Staff handed out golden envelopes to the first 100 customers which contained tickets to win a range of prizes including a 40" FHD Smart TV and four camera CCTV kits.
Other shoppers also received men's shavers and bags of Aldi shopping.
Unluckly Stanley Zvekare, 49, from Leicester., missed out on the free TV and won a £20 worth of groceries despite being first in the queue at 4.10am.
He said: "I got up at 3am, but I had gone to bed at 9pm so I had a decent sleep.
"It's a shame I didn't win the TV, but I am happy with the £20 bag."
Susan Shuttlewood, 59, who had been in the queue since 4.30am and also won a £20 bag, added: "It's worth it and you've got to do things like this in this day and age."
Junaid Master, 28, who was at the store for 6.20am, said: "Hopefully, there will be some bargains when I get in there."
Pam Sandhu, 51, from Leicester, also made the trip with neighbour Julie Barber, 55, to be there for 6.20am.
She added: "I wanted to come to the opening with my neighbour. We don't see each other much because I work shifts.
"I think people will shop at both places, they'll come here but still go to Asda over the road."
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But some customers were left disappointed after "delivery issues" meant items they had been promised on their tickets were unavailable when they went to collect them.
Louise Crooke, 25, of Birstall, Leics., who had been looking forward to picking up her electric paint sprayer, had to be content with a digital radio.
She said: "I wanted the paint sprayer, but they said they hadn't been delivered so I was given this instead, but I've already got a digital radio. I'll probably put it on eBay."
Shoppers also took selfies with Team GB rower Scott Durant, who won a Gold medal in the Men's Eight at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in the summer.
The 6ft 6ins tall 28-year-old, from Henley-on-Thames, Oxon, wore his hard-earned gold medal as he happily posed with the customers.
The new Aldi store has 77 car parking spaces and has created 35 new jobs within the local community.
Store manager Nick Jones said: "The team and I are thrilled to open our new Leicester store and host such a great prize giveaway."
A spokesman for ALDI said: "We apologise to customers who didn't receive what they were expecting. We had some delivery issues.
"Ticket holders were offered an alternative or asked to return to store when their goods are delivered."
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