Where Haggen might stumble, ALDI might be a hit (Orange: home, live)

[Forever Blue]

Heard of ALDI, but no locations around for me to see how it is yet.

Hagggen just opened & it looks exactly like the Labertson's it replaced that used to be in that location, so I don't see anything special there.

[AustinTraveler]

Originally Posted by Forever Blue

Heard of ALDI, but no locations around for me to see how it is yet.

Hagggen just opened & it looks exactly like the Labertson's it replaced that used to be in that location, so I don't see anything special there.

Haggen looks just like the Albertson's it replaced, but prices are much higher. Won't shop there anymore.

[recycled]

We already have an Aldi subsidary in most metro areas in California. Doesn't everyone know that Aldi owns Trader Joe's? Some of the Trader Joe's storebrand stuff looks & tastes like it is from the same manufacturers that makes Aldi storebrand stuff. In Germany, I've seen Trader Joe's storebrand stuff in an Aldi store! I would think Aldi would not want to rob market share from Trader Joe's in the same local area.

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by Forever Blue

Heard of ALDI, but no locations around for me to see how it is yet.

The 45 stores in southern CA open next March. You pack your own groceries at Aldi....I wonder how that'll go over here.

Discount grocer Aldi to open 45 stores in Southland - LA Times

[DriveNotCommute]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

The 45 stores in southern CA open next March. You pack your own groceries at Aldi....I wonder how that'll go over here.

Discount grocer Aldi to open 45 stores in Southland - LA Times

Thanks for the heads up. I'm actually a little eager to see what they're like and how good their private-label stuff turns out to be.

[UB50]

Originally Posted by DriveNotCommute

Here's an incomplete list of the competition in California off of the top of my head:

I'm north of LA so we have a bunch of chains you didn't mention like Super King, Superior, etc.

We have so many stores to choose from around here, unless Aldi offers something significantly different from the other stores, I probably won't shop in them. I have a hard enough time juggling the 10+ stores I already regularly shop at. (Ralphs, Vons, Ranch 99, Super King, Golden Farms, Smart & Final, HK Market, Vallerta, Trader Joe's, etc.)

I just read the article in Business Insider and I must add that prepackaged produce seems to equal death around here. Lots of ethnic shoppers who like to pinch their produce. They won't buy the prepackaged stuff because that's usually how the bad produce is hidden.

[DriveNotCommute]

Originally Posted by UB50

I'm north of LA so we have a bunch of chains you didn't mention like Super King, Superior, etc.

We have so many stores to choose from around here, unless Aldi offers something significantly different from the other stores, I probably won't shop in them. I have a hard enough time juggling the 10+ stores I already regularly shop at. (Ralphs, Vons, Ranch 99, Super King, Golden Farms, Smart & Final, HK Market, Vallerta, Trader Joe's, etc.)

I just read the article in Business Insider and I must add that prepackaged produce seems to equal death around here. Lots of ethnic shoppers who like to pinch their produce. They won't buy the prepackaged stuff because that's usually how the bad produce is hidden.

Thanks for pointing that out, I was hoping people would chime in with more groceries that I didn't know about. Los Angeles is pretty exceptional when it comes to food. You definitely have an enviable problem with variety!

[LuvSouthOC]

Originally Posted by recycled

We already have an Aldi subsidary in most metro areas in California. Doesn't everyone know that Aldi owns Trader Joe's? Some of the Trader Joe's storebrand stuff looks & tastes like it is from the same manufacturers that makes Aldi storebrand stuff. In Germany, I've seen Trader Joe's storebrand stuff in an Aldi store! I would think Aldi would not want to rob market share from Trader Joe's in the same local area.

Yeah that's true and I sure can't get all (or most) of my shopping done at TJ. ALDI would probably have lots more basics and less wine, flowers, etc.

[UB50]

Originally Posted by DriveNotCommute

Thanks for pointing that out, I was hoping people would chime in with more groceries that I didn't know about. Los Angeles is pretty exceptional when it comes to food. You definitely have an enviable problem with variety!

Yeah. I don't want any of my favs to go out of business so I have to juggle where I shop every few days.

The reality, according to Wall Street analysts, is that Southern California has the most competitive grocery market in the USA. There's a guy (I think his name is Bert Fleckinger, or something close to that) who specializes in retail grocers and he's written a lot about the SoCal market and how innovations here have changed grocery stores across the country.

One issue with the produce around here: I notice that a lot of the smaller chains (5 stores or less) seem to have deals with some of the farmers and backyard growers and they get a lot of excellent produce that they sell for far less than the major chains. Some of the major farms have beautiful fruit that they package in big boxes for mail order, but the uglier siblings of those beauties (the pears with blemishes, the nectarines that aren't quite round, etc.) have to go somewhere and these chains buy that produce.

I also went into a Whole Foods one night and saw a package of tomatoes for $7.95. The funny thing was that I had just been in another store (not a chain store) where they had two huge pallet racks full of those boxes of tomatoes on sale for $.79 a box!

So, good luck Aldi's! They are going to need it!

[beasley106]

Aldi has entered other competitive grocery markets before (inc the Chicago, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Atlanta, Houston, New York, and DC metro areas) and they survived so I think they will be successful in Southern California. For groceries studies have shown that they were actually cheaper than Walmart (and the quality is generally better than Walmart as well). The only thing that new Aldi would need to get used to are four things;

1. Aldi typically only sells their own brand name items so you won't find some name brands that most people are used to such as Kraft, Lays, Oscar Meyer, Betty Crocker, etc.
2. You are expected to not only bag your own groceries, but also expected to either bring your own bag or pay for one in the store.
3. A quarter or token is needed in order to use their shopping carts, however if you return it you get your quarter back.
4. They only accept cash or debit cards.