Is anyone familiar with WinCo supermarket?

[MN-Born-n-Raised]

Originally Posted by jimj

Wow, this REALLY went OT.
Who really cares about a store that is NOT in this state? I for one could care less if Aldi's sells horse meat as prime beef, they ain't here people...

Agreed.

Posts like these (this time in Texas) just made me a wee bit suspicious with someone from Germany so passionate about a grocery chain in the USA. That has been his exclusive kind of posts. I diverge....

Originally Posted by sebastiannight

The new Aldi distribution center in Rosenberg near Houston will start operations early next year. Aldi will surely add more stores to the Houston area. But it seems clear that this distribution center will also supply upcoming stores in the San Antonio and Austin area. I expect that the first stores in San Antonio will open in the first half of 2017 at the latest.

jimj. Your scolding was warranted. I'm done.

I went to WinCo again yesterday. Along with other items, I got some Apples for $0.78 / lb and some more red seedless grapes for $0.58 a pound! I grabbed another one of their cobb salads for $3.18. Yum (note they do not come with dressing in the container). Meanwhile, I bought back a bag of broccoli that went bad 3 days early at Sam's. I was surprised when they gave me 2x back. That's their policy; double your money back if you don't like their produce. But WinCo was busy and Sam's was pretty slow @ 11AM. For how out of the way WinCo is on the 303, I'm amazed how busy they are.

Another lesson: WinCo doesn't take credit cards. They take check cards, check, or CASH). There should be a big sign when you enter the door. Someone is going to spend an hour shopping and not be able to pay. A sign should be common sense in a brand new store with brand new shoppers.

Signed,
Head cheerleader and social media paid guru for WinCo USA. JUST kidding!

[ScottsdaleMark]

Man, I'm missing out, I need to start getting paid for my esoteric opinions!

Supposedly this practice is common on political blogs and comments sections, for people to go in there with talking points and try to steer the conversation etc. It seems risky because if the mole gets found out then that becomes a story in itself, so I don't necessarily know how much of it is really paid commenting and how much of it is just esoteric enthusiasts who happen to have an unusual passion or interest.

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by rah62

THIS.

Where I lived before, Aldis were always placed in low-income high-crime neighborhoods, usually in a strip mall next to a Dollar Tree or Big Lots. The packaged food was 90% brands I'd never heard of, shipped in from who knows where, maybe one kind of cola and some Shasta, and a tiny frozen section and next to no produce. It was a sad experience I tried once at two different Aldis, and I swore I'd never go back. I actually found more food I could use at the 99 cent store or Big Lots.

At one time, YES.

In the last 10 years or so, NO.

[sebastiannight]

Originally Posted by MN-Born-n-Raised

Then maybe it's Aldi Nord which is headquartered in Essen Germany. According to Mapquest, Dusseldorf to Essen is 35 minutes apart. There is a saying in the USA: "If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, and quaks like a duck, it is a duck ..." Based off of your posting pattern behavior, you sound like a social media duck.

Haha
The HQ of Aldi Süd is indeed located in Mülheim an der Ruhr. That's not so far away, but 35 minutes would be a very long commute for German standards.
Stores from Aldi Nord are just awful. The stores are dark, extraordinary shoddy, Their employees are badly paid and badly trained. It's a nightmare to shop at Aldi-Nord. Aldi-Süd is much better than Aldi-Nord.

There are many things that I don't like at Aldi:
- compared to traditional grocery stores, Aldi stores are so nasty. About 15 or 20 years ago the difference in the interior design (shelves, lightning, floor material...) between Aldi and traditional grocery stores was not that big. But today almost all traditional grocery stores are remodelled, high-end floor materials, beautiful decoratons, black shelves, flatscreens, electronic shelf labeling. Beautiful cheese and meat deli departments. Everything is so stylish, so modern. At Aldi I always miss the beauty of traditional grocery stores.
- In some ranges the Aldi selection is indeed just way to small. You are so right about the spices. I have counted the different spices at my local Aldi, today. They have just 7. That's one reason why I have to go to Kaufland (seems somewhat similar to WinCo) very often. Spices at traditional grocery stores are way too expensive in my opinion. Spices at Kaufland are way cheaper. But Kaufland is way too big, too much selection. It's to time consuming if I would shop at Kaufland every day.
- I really hate these weekly non food sales at Aldi. Socks, shoes, pans, printer, toys? I really don't want to buy these things in a grocery store. I don't say that it's all crap, I have bought a pair of gloves for gardening and also a few decoration items and some plastic boxes. They were all good quality. But I have also bought a cheap mob at Aldi. That was the worst mob I have ever seen. Wobbly telescopic stick, very low quality. I have returned the used and still wet mob. I was so angry and disappointed.
Especially older people like these weekly non food sales at Aldi. Aldi stores are normally somewhat overcrowded at Monday and Thursday morning. I would prefer a wider food selection instead of these random non food things.
- I want be able to buy just one banana and not a bunch of bananas. And I want to eat the banana immediately. That's most of the time not possible with the bananas from Aldi, because they need 1 or 2 days to turn from green to yellow. The produce normally taste as good as the produces from other stores, but at Aldi I found sometimes mushy or even moldy oranges, clementines, or mushy ballpeppers. Traditional grocery stores have enough employees to pick those bad fruits out. For me it's not a big deal if I find a mushy clementines in the net. But it's disgusting.
- The whole produce section just looks poor. It's shoddy, it's badly located, not far away from the checkouts. During rush hours the lines can block the produce department. It's terrible.
- Aldi-Süd in Germany has vending machines for bread and some pastries. The machines warm up the baked goods. The selection is very limited and you don't see the product. There is just a button near an image of the product. You push the button and the product will slide out of the machine. The baked goods taste normally good but sometimes the products are somewhat darker baked than usally. I don't like that. I want to see the product, what I intend to purchase.
These baking machines are probably the worst misinvestment of Aldi-Süd ever. The baking departments in Lidl stores are so much nicer, so much more selection. At the moment Aldi-Süd in Germany is loosing ground towards Lidl and upscale grocery stores.
- I am single and I normally shop everyday. So I really don't need a shopping cart. At Aldi I use normally an abandoned card board box to carry my purchases. But I would prefer a small shopping basket like those in traditional grocery stores. Not long ago, Lidl has introduced those small shopping baskets. At the moment Lidl makes huge improvements.

Maybe you believe me now that I don't work for Aldi?
I just don't like stupid comments like those from rah62 or jimj. If I read those comments I feel the need to clarify things.

[Adamson865]

Originally Posted by ElleTea

At one time, YES.

In the last 10 years or so, NO.

I don't know when they were placed (as to whether it was >10 years), but I experienced these low-class Aldis just about 18 months ago in the DFW region.

[sebastiannight]

Originally Posted by jimj

Wow, this REALLY went OT.
Who really cares about a store that is NOT in this state? I for one could care less if Aldi's sells horse meat as prime beef, they ain't here people...

No wonder that this went OT if people like you make stupid comments. There are no Aldi stores in AZ, but there are Walmart stores. The horsemeat in Europe was first discovered at European Walmart (Asda in UK) stores. It's strange that so many Americans think that the horsemeat was an only or mainly Aldi issue. But almost no American knows that the horsemeat was first discovered at Walmart stores. Almost all grocery retailer in Europe were affected by this scandal. Also Delhaize the parent company of Food Lion and Hannaford and Ahold the parent company of Giant, Martin's and Stop & Shop.

And to WinCo. I think it's a great concept. It's nice that it's an employee owned company. I really love that they sell some products in bulk. And they pass the savings of reduced overhead to the customers. I am pretty sure that I would prefer WinCo over all other grocery chains in the Phoenix area.