Supermarket chain Aldi has reached a major milestone in the UK with the opening of its 1,000th store in Woking, Surrey.

The new store in Woking comes as the retailer continues to attract new customers in the South East. It has more than 150 stores in the region.

Aldi also plans to invest billions of pounds as it sets a new long-term target of reaching 1,500 stores in the coming years.

The investment is intended to address the growing demand for Aldi, with data showing that two-thirds of Brits shop with the retailer.

The discounter is searching for more locations across the UK for 500 new stores.

In line with its £1.3bn ($1.62bn) two-year investment plan, the retailer will open another 20 new stores before the end of the year.

Aldi UK and Ireland CEO Giles Hurley said: “Opening our 1,000th store is a huge milestone and wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work and dedication of our 40,000 incredible colleagues.

“Our popularity is growing, and there is huge demand for people to have an Aldi store near to them to increase shoppers’ access to our unbeatable prices.

“The next phase of our expansion will involve another 500 new stores over the coming years. It is a long-term target and is not a ceiling to our ambition to have an Aldi store close to everyone in the UK.”

Last month, Asda announced investment of £23m to reduce the prices of 425 branded and own-label products.