Shopping at Aldi

[xchen]

How many of you shop for groceries here?

I'm a fairly recent convert. I don't buy everything there, but at this point in time I don't really buy very many groceries anyways. I've found the quality of the products to be very high. I think the no frills approach is kind of cool. I haven't looked around enough at their fresh produce as much as I would like to, though.

 

[intent]

I used to (food's food), but there aren't any stores around here.

 

[Infrasonic]

One just opened literally across the road from me. I like it for a basic bulk shop.

The staff efficiency model is a bit extreme, stacking shelves, tills etc. all done by the same staff, but they certainly are keen.

 

[Tarzan]

I shop at Lidl and Aldi all the time. They are the best choice here, mostly because the other chains have unreasonably high prices. It's hard though to stay away from the "candy" corridor

 

[Dakota rube]

Aldi owns Trader Joes.

 

[milosz]

They're opening an Aldi near me. I'd much rather have a Trader Joe's.

 

[Quatsch]

I just went to the Aldi here because I'd been told you could find red currant jam there. Its a shame they don't carry more German products. Maybe this is just a ghetto Aldi in my town of ~40,000, but I don't see how it could compare to trader joe's at all.

 

[JayJay]

I've never been to one.

 

[emptym]

Are the US stores a lot like the German ones? Same company?

 

[ChicagoRon]

Originally Posted by Dakota rube

Aldi owns Trader Joes.
I'm pretty sure this is not technically true (I know someone who is an exec for Aldi). The CEOs of Aldi and Trader Joes are brothers... but it is not the same company.

 

[ama]

I've been, but frankly I prefer to pay just a little more to shop in a more inviting environment with more products I'd be apt to buy.

 

[Quatsch]

Originally Posted by emptym

Are the US stores a lot like the German ones? Same company?

I never actually went in an Aldi in Germany, and I can't really remember ever having seen one there - I guess they weren't popular in the part of the country I lived in - but its basically the layout of the store thats most similar. Entrance, store winds around to the gated exit system, the frozen stuff is the last thing before the checkout, etc.

 

[xchen]

I've never actually been in a Trader Joe's, but we have one about 25 mins from where I live. I kind of want to swing by just to check it out. We have a whole foods as well. I've never been to the one here but I did go to the one in downtown Manhattan when I was in NYC.

I haven't bought much at Aldi, but I'd like to shop there more when I am actually using more groceries.

I read somewhere that something like 80% of the people in Germany shop at Aldi.

We've also got several Asian supermarkets (Super H Mart) that are huge as well as several internation farmers markets where you can get all sorts of awesome stuff. One had like 300-400 varieties of ramen.

 

[Sebastian_Flyte]

Someone describe a US Aldi for me, please.

How does it compare/contrast with Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and a typical Giant-style supermarket?

 

[emptym]

Originally Posted by Quatsch

I never actually went in an Aldi in Germany, and I can't really remember ever having seen one there - I guess they weren't popular in the part of the country I lived in - but its basically the layout of the store thats most similar. Entrance, store winds around to the gated exit system, the frozen stuff is the last thing before the checkout, etc.
Interesting. Thanks. I think I still have some athletic socks I bought there 10 yrs ago.