Schwarz’s father, Josef, got his start in retail in the 1930s, when he and a partner created what became grocer Lidl & Schwarz KG; their store was destroyed in World War II, according to the Kaufland website.
Schwarz’s partner left the company in 1951. Dieter Schwarz joined the family business after finishing high school, and struck out on his own more than two decades later, opening the first Lidl discount store in Ludwigshafen, Germany, in 1973.