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Well, it's not a major investment--a quarter--and it's a great way to get people to return their carts (as opposed to leaving them all over the parking lot).
I've only been to the Aldi near me once. They remind me of Big Lots, as they take advantage of good buys on certain products, and have shelves where the merchandise constantly shifts/changes. Invariably the products are store brands as opposed to nationally advertised brands (thus the low price), though you see a few familiar things mixed in. Some basic staples are always there (bread, milk, etc.) but a lot of other things like snacks, produce, drinks and canned goods typically come and go as they get a good deal. It's not the kind of place where you take a shopping list and expect to find everything you need, and if you are brand-loyal you might be greatly disappointed. This is more like a hunting expedition-type store, where you go with the hope of stumbling upon a really good deal (and usually do).
Other interesting touches: the cashiers get to sit in chairs, and they don't bag anything. You bring your own bags (reusables, or just plastic bags you got somewhere else) and bag it yourself. They might sell bags--I've heard they do, but didn't see anyone buy one when I was there. I like that concept, since people get snippy if their bags aren't packed just the way they want them packed. As mentioned earlier, you also 'rent' a shopping cart. You drop a quarter into a slot that unlocks the cart, and when you push the cart back into the mechanism, you get a quarter back. Again, a great touch that gives people motivation to return the carts.
If you have visit an Aldi store only once, how do you can say that a lot of things come and go as they get a good deal? Sorry, but that's a pretty absurd description.
About 1,200 different items are basically always available. The range is pretty consistent. That includes of course things like canned goods, snacks, drinks, cheeses and so on. In addition to the products that are always available they offer weekly changing merchandise (climbing gear, small appliances, tools...), and a weekly changing range of different food products from other countries (French or Spanish weeks).
The products at Aldi are produced by order of Aldi. They don't sell some kind of remnants. What you will find in three month on their shelves is already fixed.
Aldi and Lidl are good for nonperishable and frozen grocery items and household goods. For bakery, delicatessen, meat, and produce products, I would try a supermarket.
Aldi and Lidl are good for nonperishable and frozen grocery items and household goods. For bakery, delicatessen, meat, and produce products, I would try a supermarket.
I dunno ... I have seen some AMAZING fruit and produce at Aldi -- truly some of the biggest and most beautiful fruits and veggies ever. Thing is, you have to go almost daily to get that kind of stuff -- when it comes off the truck, it goes FAST! This is why lots of people who live near Aldi go on an almost daily basis.
Another thing you see at Aldi is the products often are merchandised out of the original delivery boxes. It allows the employees to stock things much easier/quicker. It really helps with the produce items, since they often still have the protective packaging around them. Less handling = less bruising, etc.
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If you have visit an Aldi store only once, how do you can say that a lot of things come and go as they get a good deal? Sorry, but that's a pretty absurd description. About 1,200 different items are basically always available.
I do recall the milk, bread, and cold-cut sections had shelf tags (implying replenishment of those exact items), but most of the aisles had little rhyme or reason: signs attached to boxes (or attached to the wall behind a large display), gave the place a sort of free-form arrangement rather than the typical arrangement of departments and plan-o-grammed/shelf-labeled shelving units within them. Maybe I overlooked a lot of the mechanics of the store as I soaked in the ambiance?
I will admit most of my pre-conceived notions about the place came from reading my local C-D comments on the chain--the Big Lots comparison was actually something someone else had said before I did, but it stuck in my mind and it seemed to fit the feeling I had about the place. I stopped in the place more to see what the hype was all about, not expecting to write a review (or reply to an inquiry about the place). Sorry you were so offended.
I will report that the "store-brand" Chee-tos I bought were really good. The Brand-name Chee-tos are $3.99, and those (same size) were only 68 cents!
Aldi is new to this area so I will have to check them out. People seem to like them. I am biased against them because I frequented Aldi a couple times while I lived in the DFW metroplex and they were always located in low-income areas with seedy clientele. The Big Lots analogy above is actually perfect to the Aldis I've seen in DFW. A bunch of off-brand crap, with maybe two different loaves of bread, some generic German snacks, and a big pile of Shasta soda but no Coke or Pepsi. I will have to visit one in my area to determine if it's any better.
Last edited by Adamson865; 07-29-2016 at 09:30 PM..
Aldi is new to this area so I will have to check them out. People seem to like them. I am biased against them because I frequented Aldi a couple times while I lived in the DFW metroplex and they were always located in low-income areas with seedy clientele. The Big Lots analogy above is actually perfect to the Aldis I've seen in DFW. A bunch of off-brand crap, with maybe two different loaves of bread, some generic German snacks, and a big pile of Shasta soda but no Coke or Pepsi. I will have to visit one in my area to determine if if it's any better.
Well, you don't shop at Aldi for name brands. That's the whole point. It's supposed to be a "quality" off-brand grocer.
Interesting fact that many people don't know is that every item on the shelf at BIG LOTS that isn't a Big Lots brand, is a NAME BRAND that had either been closed out and relabeled OR is a test product. For example, Jiffy Peanut Butter will produce an entire line of product and sell it as something completely generic, just to do test market studies unaffected by the bias of the Jiffy name. It makes perfect sense when you think about it, and explains all these weird sounding brand / product names you see in generic / warehouse grocery stores. If the name on the product seems so ridiculous that it must be made up ... it probably is.
I do recall the milk, bread, and cold-cut sections had shelf tags (implying replenishment of those exact items), but most of the aisles had little rhyme or reason: signs attached to boxes (or attached to the wall behind a large display), gave the place a sort of free-form arrangement rather than the typical arrangement of departments and plan-o-grammed/shelf-labeled shelving units within them. Maybe I overlooked a lot of the mechanics of the store as I soaked in the ambiance?
I will admit most of my pre-conceived notions about the place came from reading my local C-D comments on the chain--the Big Lots comparison was actually something someone else had said before I did, but it stuck in my mind and it seemed to fit the feeling I had about the place. I stopped in the place more to see what the hype was all about, not expecting to write a review (or reply to an inquiry about the place). Sorry you were so offended.
I'm really not offended. Many people still seem to have a misconception of Aldi. I would even claim that you will never ever find remainders at Aldi. It's more likely that you can find some at your local conventional supermarket.
Reportedly about 90% of the packed food at Aldi are Aldi brands, the remaining 10% are national brands. For example common Aldi brands for snacks are Clancy's (chips), Savoritz (crackers), Choceur (chocolate), Benton's (cookies). Some other brands: SimplyNature (organic), liveGfree (gluten free), Specially Selected (premium line), Tandil (washing detergent), Kirkwood (chicken), Friendly Farms (milk), Happy Farms (cheese), Fit & Active (healthier options), Lacura (cosmetics), Millville (cereals), Boulder (paper products). Every product is produced to standards specified by Aldi. Aldi now operates more than 1,500 stores throughout the U.S. In all stores they sell basically the same products. All the products are produced in huge quantities. The whole business model would never work if they would deal with remaining stocks.
Aldi is even using Aldi brands for all these weekly changing special non food buys. Like Easy Home, Huntington Home, Crafton, Crane, Medion. All those products are also not remainders.
The layout of the stores and the location of the products are very well planned. They even put a lot of effort to make the stores somewhat shabby looking (because customers associate it with low prices). That helps to achieve the unique selling point of price leadership.
Some years ago Aldi in the U.S. had a similar reputation like Aldi had in Germany until the mid 80s. Back then it was perceived as a store mostly for lower income families. My mother had never that a foot in an Aldi store, because she thought she is too posh for Aldi. The perception of Aldi in the U.S. seems to have changed in the last couple of years.
I think Aldi is a good way to shop, but there are for me understandable reasons when people don't want to shop there. Limited selection, shoddy looking stores (especially the produce section looks terrible), almost no customer service, inapproprate if one prefers one-stop-shopping, meat is often cheaper at other stores when on sale, or when people say that they don't want to shop in grocery stores that also sells underwear or rubber boots.
In the last couple of years Lidl has improved strongly. I shop at both chains but meanwhile I shop more often at Lidl. They have a wider selection, more fancier food options, nice in-store bakeries, less special buys on non-food articles, a nicer produce section. And, at least here in Germany, Lidl is cheaper than Aldi. The regular shelf prices are throughout identical between both chains, but Lidl has a lot of bargain offers. Aldi only has weekly changing offers on produce. If I would buy the store brands at a fancy upmarket grocery store, I would pay the exact same prices that I would pay at Aldi. That's really disappointing. But the quality of the store brands from upmarket grocery stores tends to be lower in my perception.
Great explanation, thank you. It will be interesting with these two both opening new stores so close together. I don't think the shabby run down look will work here. Hopefully they have done their market research.
Great explanation, thank you. It will be interesting with these two both opening new stores so close together. I don't think the shabby run down look will work here. Hopefully they have done their market research.
I wouldn't say that it's a run down look. It's more a no-frills environment. It looks rather shabby compared to upscale grocery stores. Everything these days seems to become fancy. But an Aldi store still looks like an Aldi store. Newly build Aldi stores in the U.S. seems to look like this:
Lidl stores in the U.S. will be about double the size of an Aldi store in the U.S. Newly build Lidl concept stores in Europe are still slightly smaller than the planned Lidl stores in the U.S.
Here are some glimpse how new Lidl stores look like in Europe:
I'm rather dissatisfied that our Aldi and Lidl stores in Germany doesn't look like this. Aldi has lost market share in the last years. They have recently announced that they will revamp all their stores in the next 3 years. Short after Aldis anouncement Lidl has announced it will invest 3bn Euro in the next 5 years to revamp their stores, too.
That is what Aldi stores will look like in Germany:
Last edited by lukas1973; 07-31-2016 at 03:29 PM..
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