BATAVIA, Ill. — With more people shopping its grocery stores than ever before, Aldi recently announced an aggressive $1.6 billion investment, with an extensive plan to remodel and expand more than 1,300 U.S. stores by 2020.

The new store look, according to Aldi, delivers on its customers’ desire for a modern and convenient shopping experience with a focus on fresh items, including more robust produce, dairy and bakery sections. In the past few years Aldi has added a number of new product lines that have quickly become customer favorites, including the ­liveGfree brand of gluten-free food, SimplyNature products featuring many organic items and a full line of premium baby items under the Little Journey brand.

Remodeled stores will also feature a modern design, open ceilings, natural lighting and environmentally friendly building materials — such as recycled materials, energy-saving refrigeration and LED lighting.

“With this significant investment in our stores, what we’re really doing is continuing to invest in Aldi customers,” said Jason Hart, Aldi chief executive officer. “We’re continuing to expand our fresh offerings, which means we need to provide more space for produce, meat and bakery items. We’ve also made a number of improvements to our products, such as removing added MSG, certified synthetic colors and partially hydrogenated oils from all of our Aldi exclusive brand foods.”

Currently operating in 35 states, Aldi serves more than 40 million customers each month, a nearly 60% increase since 2013, according to the company, with its footprint continuing to expand.