Discount grocery chain Aldi is remodeling its West Hyattsville store, adding 3,100 square feet and fully renovating the interior.

The remodel comes as the privately held German company is dramatically expanding in the United States, alongside its closest competitor, Lidl, which opened in College Park earlier this year.

The secret to Aldi’s success is a ruthless focus on keeping prices low. Stores are small — an average of 12,000 square feet compared to the 45,000 square feet of a typical grocery store. (After the remodel, the West Hyattsville store will be 25,000 square feet.)

You have to pay a quarter to get a shopping cart, which you get back when you return it. And workers put your groceries right back into the cart at checkout — you have to bag them yourself somewhere else, keeping the line moving briskly.

Those minor inconveniences keep labor costs down, as there may be only three or four employees working at a given time.

Aldi’s has long sold its own private labels that are cheaper than name brands, much like Trader Joe’s. It also stocks a “middle aisle” of seemingly random deals on non-grocery items that adds an element of serendipity, much like Costco. And until recently it didn’t advertise, relying on word-of-mouth from a loyal customer base.

The remodel shows that Aldi is trying to keep up with Lidl and Trader Joe’s as well as higher-end grocery stores like Whole Foods. With the grocery wars heating up along the Route 1 corridor, that’s only a good thing for consumers.