Great news for Houston. Aldi is building tons of stores. (Katy: homes, buy)

[crbcrbrgv]

Originally Posted by hsw

Semi-intelligent consumers will vote w/their dollars for whichever store gives them best value stuff, convenient to wherever these consumers reside w/safe parking, etc

Workers will work wherever employers pay most vs skills

Shareholders will invest in most profitable cos. with likely best performing share prices (mysteriously best execs and workers tend to congregate wherever profitable businesses exist)

The commie nonsense of going wherever workers are paid more and wherever unions or gvts mob up the economy or wherever crappy cos. (like most groc/dept stores or US/Asian auto cos., etc) advertise is laughable stuff for the unthinking, presumably blindly cultist consumer....stuff of commie, unthinking Manhattan or Detroit or SF or Paris or London...not capitalist , common sense Hou/Dall...Aust is a commie Berk/DC/PaloAlto/Bos/Manhatt wannabe that wishes it was in DC/NYC/CA, not in TX of all places....and I suspect the wealthiest in TX also view Aus as a confused dump w a 3rd rate college and a 25+yo PC box maker as its only "innovative" co., not unlike Bos

I was hoping to get this kind of a response to this thread.

I mean, really, who doesn't think of communism when they think of Aldi and the / symbol?

[wheretogo]

Do you have link to all 30 locations ?

Originally Posted by Timnwendy

That's encouraging, especially since one of these new Aldi's is supposed to be built on the west side of the Pearland Town Center, very near my house.

[jimmyev]

Originally Posted by elnina

Aldi meats seems to be of good quality:
ALDI - Fit & Active®
Their beef comes from Cattlemen's Ranch, poultry from Kirkwood (Costco), pork from Roseland.
The meats are at least USDA inspected.
A Frugal Force

Kirkwood isn't the Costco brand. The Costco brand is Kirkland.

[CoderGeek]

Originally Posted by chris_ut

"The discount grocery chain operates on a different business model than its peers. Customers must pay a 25 cent deposit for a grocery cart – a system that cuts down on carts stacking up parking lots, the company says.

Shoppers are also expected to bring their own bags and do their own bagging. And almost 95 percent of its products are sold under Aldi’s private label."


I think I will stick with HEB, thanks.

Aldi's business model is all around reducing costs - no paying artists for fancy in-store signage (all their stuff is probably printed on a black and white ink jet printer in a back room with wordpad), no one needing to be paid to drag carts back into the store and no paying middle men for Aldi's awesome German chocolate (Aldi is based in Germany). Unfortunately, this also means usually at most 2 cashiers on duty during even the busiest of times.

Yeah, initially it comes off as being ghetto (having to bring your cart back to get your quarter deposit back)... but try it out and you'll realize it's worth it - the cost savings is reflected in their pricing. Yeah, they got their own brands of stuff, but it's typically good quality stuff.

Aldi does sell grocery bags for 10-15 cents each, but they are the heavy-duty reusable plastic ones not that cheap crap HEB gives you. It's an adjustment to be made by Houstonians and definitely a cultural attitude Aldi will need to address in their introduction to this area.

Yes, I'm a huge Aldi fan and thoroughly excited to finally see them coming to Houston.

[Timnwendy]

I might be mistaken, but I think Auchan used this same business model when they were in Houston around 10+ years ago. I hope Aldi has better success with it here than Auchan did.

[SouthernBoy205]

Are any of the Aldis opened?

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by hsw

The commie nonsense of going wherever workers are paid more and wherever unions or gvts mob up the economy or wherever crappy cos. (like most groc/dept stores or US/Asian auto cos., etc) advertise is laughable stuff for the unthinking, presumably blindly cultist consumer....stuff of commie, unthinking Manhattan or Detroit or SF or Paris or London...not capitalist , common sense Hou/Dall...Aust is a commie Berk/DC/PaloAlto/Bos/Manhatt wannabe that wishes it was in DC/NYC/CA, not in TX of all places....and I suspect the wealthiest in TX also view Aus as a confused dump w a 3rd rate college and a 25+yo PC box maker as its only "innovative" co., not unlike Bos

[JH6]

We've had Aldi in New York for about 5 years now. They undercut everybody on price by only a little bit, there are no amazing deals to be had. They are very little supermarkets, and half of the food is that processed box stuff full of salt. The produce is all shrinkwrapped, and is generally not very good. The meat is no where near good. Their frozen section is pretty good however.

They aren't going to put anybody out of business, but I'm glad that you guys will be getting some jobs out of them opening new stores.

Bring a quarter to unlock your shopping cart from the rack, and they only accept debit cards with pin number, or cash. They are owned by the same company as Trader Joe's, but they are worlds apart.

If you are on a budget, you might just be paying the same price as a regular grocery store, if you stick to store brands.

[Zhang Fei]

Originally Posted by Timnwendy

I might be mistaken, but I think Auchan used this same business model when they were in Houston around 10+ years ago. I hope Aldi has better success with it here than Auchan did.

The articles I've read about Auchan indicate it competed in the cutthroat arena of consumer electronics and had an in-store bakery. Store size was around that for a Walmart Supercenter. Aldi's stores are tiny, about 1/4 the average Kroger's 70K sq ft.

[deckhanddavy]

I'm just not a fan of the name, Aldi. Reminds me way too much of dog food.