meet my new grocery store!!! ALDI foods

[greenbriar]

http://www.aldifoods.com/us/html/company/shopping_smarter_3180_ENU_HTML.htm



Welcome to a place where private label products exceed the quality of big name brands.
But cost up to 50% less.

Welcome to a place where streamlined operations all but eliminate competition.
A place where there is always a surprise in store.

Welcome to a community of smarter shoppers whose expectations for high quality
are matched only by their refusal to pay more for it.

[seemunkee]

1. Cool

There's one not far from me and I need to go grocery shopping.
How's the produce?

[madrchsod]

what ever they can buy at their price they stock

i`ve never had bad produce because they usually sell everything out that day

[Wiley50]

7. Great! So is the fresh meat and everything else I've ever bought there

[greenbriar]

8. not bad at all

I used to be an assistant manager way back in the day...

we had to memorize every price because there was no scanner


the variety is pretty big...a lot bigger than it used to be



we just stopped shopping there because we "made better money and could afford Dillons"


we are now going back there from Now on

[Kittycat]

2. Aldi brings back the nightmares of my childhood, and Veg-All.

Canned mixed vegetables - loaded with mushy peas and chewy lima beans. :puke:

That and Astro Mike, Little Debbie's imbred cousin will always be in my memory, when I think of Aldis.

They do have good vegetarian hot pockets.

ETA: I have shopped there many times in the past. Crazy enough, they have one of the best jarred pasta sauces on the market, IMO (chunky versions w/gold lid) - great for Lasagna in a rush. They're building one just at the entrance of the active adult side of our neighborhood. I'll probably start shopping there again when it opens, right now I do most of my shopping at Meijer (avoiding Super Hell-mart right next to them), target, and a local italian grocer.

[madmom]

12. If you're avoiding "Super Hell-mart" because of the way it treats it's

employees, you should definitely stay far away from Meijer. I've worked for both, still working for Wal-mart, pay is much better, treated better by management would not step foot in Meijer again if I was starving. I'm not the only one with this opinion, there were about 20 or so of us who left in mass.

[Riley133]

47. Yeah, what happened to them?

They've really gone downhill and the competition is getting most of their customers. I told a manager that I'd be happy to contact the Health Department - their meat case was just that bad. I went back the next day and it had been cleaned up, but dang. I avoid them anymore. Judging by their parking lot, I'm not the only one.

[WildEyedLiberal]

43. For a moment I thought you lived in my town

Super Hell-mart opened a huge new store RIGHT ACROSS from the local Meijer a couple of years ago. x( I refuse to patronize it in any way shape or form.

[Warpy]

3. They're spreading east, not west

I'll just have to stick to the food co op.

[ProgressiveFool]

4. They actually have Aldi here now?

It's a German company, and they own Trader Joe's. I would think they'd want to expand the Trader Joe's brand, which is already really well respected.

[LSparkle]

14. No wonder they're not in the West -- that's where we have TJ's

and BOY do I love Trader Joe's! What would I do without them??? Perish the thought!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

26. We have both Aldi's and Trader Joe's in the Minneapolis area

:shrug:

[Riley133]

44. We have both, too - much prefer TJs. Aldi - old produce, seriously overprocessed foods. IMHO. nt

[lame54]

52. actually they do not own Trader Joes

It's in the same family, one brother owns Trader Joes and the other owns Aldi's. They are two separate companies. Trader Joes was started by Joe Coulombe in the late 60''s and he sold it to one of the Aldi brothers in 1978. It is still based out of Monrovia, CA and is run locally. The Aldi family doesn't have a hands on with Trader Joes.

[Ms. Toad]

54. Aldi's been in the US

for at least 15 years. I started shopping there when my daughter (now a high school senior) was small.

[madrchsod]

5. i worked at the plant that makes

a lot of the box mixes for aldi`s. i can attest to the quality of the products coming from this plant. it`s well run,quality control is excellent ,and it`s not a bad place to work.

[knitter4democracy]

6. I always forget about them. I need to stop in there.

I survived on Aldi in college. My last year, money was very tight. Aldi and Big Lots got me through.

[greenbriar]

41. its funny when I worked there, we shopped there all the time

then hubby got tired of the limits of variety


now, we have more money and hubby wants to shop there and I resisted...


now we both agree its where we will go

[Wiley50]

9. I had just posted ALDI to your other thread!

Went back to GD and saw this thread

Fucking synchronicity!

[Cirque du So-What]

10. I've been a fan of Aldi for some time

The produce is alright. I have better luck with their potatoes than those sold in most big-chain supermarkets, which must be checked carefully for fungi.

[Lars39]

11. I shopped there today...spent $112 for a week's worth of food.

I already had a few things, though, and I cook from scratch for the most part.

[helderheid]

13. I shopped there when I was in Holland.

[Hardrada]

15. There are some ALDI clone stores in Germany so good is their model.

We shopped a few times at some in Berlin. I can't recall the name now but it was a lot like Aldi's. Maybe someone knows which places I mean.

[Angela Shelley]

34. ALDI started in Germany.

[Alcibiades]

53. We used to shop at one on Teltower Damm

I grew up in Berlin, back when it was West Berlin and we were occupiers under the 4 powers agreement. Once we moved into the "local economy" (as the world offbase was known in the military culture), we lived right around the corner from an ALDI. From their website, it would appear they have shipped German grocery culture to the US. In German stores, you pay for bags, which is why many folks just use cloth totes. I don't remember putting down a deposit for carts, but that may have been the case.

I did stop in an ALDI in Raleigh a couple of years ago. Compared to the one we had in Berlin, it was lame, more like a discount store such as Dollar General. Back at the one we had, you could get Turkish flatbread, Yugoslav-style sausages (Cevapcici), and great black tea in 500 gram bags. As well as River Cola. The one in Raleigh is much smaller and dingier than the one on the website, and not nearly so nice as those in Deutschland (though the German stores are also smaller than the mega-ALDI depicted--WTF?).

Anyway, I do hope the two that the store locator function indicates are in Raleigh are nicer than the one I visited a couple of years ago. Personally, I think they would just do well if they stocked the same items they stock in Germany. I recall the chocolate was cheap and good.

[Hardrada]

55. They have German wine and beer and chocolate

in our local Aldi's and for not very much. I can't say how good the beer is since I don't drink but I like the chocolate. When we standing in line at the Aldi clones in Berlin we felt right at home!

[greenbriar]

16. I still have to buy bread elsewhere ... hubby requires gluten free bread

and I must have my miracle whip

[Rosemary2205]

17. Private label brands?

In my local Aldi everything they sell are overflow store brands from some foreign country. The quality of the goods in my local Aldi is decent, but I'd be hard pressed to call it superior considering about all they sell is highly processed.

[lonestarnot]

18. None here

:(

[Lorien]

19. My mom keeps saying "I've seen no changes in food prices"

but she shops at ALDI, so I guess that's why. We don't have that chain here in Florida.

[originalpckelly]

20. I like the shopping carts...

that's a good idea I'm going to steal if I ever get around to opening a retail store!

[dysfunctional press]

21. ummm...aldi and i are very old friends...he should have metioned that.

:shrug:

[Ikonoklast]

22. Virulently anti-union

Low prices, yes.

Low wages, yes.

[greenbriar]

23. when I was assistant manager I made decent money there

back when minimum wage was like 3:85 I was making like 7 bucks an hour and when I became salary as assistant mgr...it was good


the work was hard tho

[bklyncowgirl]

24. The Aldi near me pays better than the big chains. nt

[SoCalDem]

31. yep..over the decades, unions have been weakened and new-hires

get less and less..and as the oldies retire, there is a less well-paid staff left behins..

and stores continually "outsource" their departments, to cut down on the work that the union clerks can even do..

[BuelahWitch]

46. They advertise their checker jobs at $11 or more per hour

I sincerely doubt that HellMart or Dillons pay their own checkers that much...

edited to signify it's an hourly wage.

[mdmc]

49. ALDI is anti-union?

How so? I know that they aren't organized, but they seem pretty employee friendly to me. I think they are closed on Sundays.

[bklyncowgirl]

25. One bad thing about Aldi

You go in there expecting to buy some cheap vegetables and dairy products and you walk out with a damn $60 hammock.

What can I say, it was a bargain. My husband keeps saying "Walk past the cool stuff."

[JerseygirlCT]

27. I don't know. I went into the one here once... it was nasty

Badly stocked, badly lit, dirty floors... It felt like an Ocean State Job Lot.

Hope yours is better!

[demgurl]

28. I have done professional reviews of Aldis and.....

the only problem I have experienced is with the freshness of fruit and vegetables. I actually found mold on some produce at a couple of their stores. Everything was pretty good beside that. The line was a little long but what do you expect in a place like that? I knew they do not provide bags (it was in my reviewer instructions) and so I brought bags with me. People do need to bring a quarter to get a shoppimg cart but that is returned to you when you return the cart.

[JackCo]

29. Don't have Aldi's but

Save A Lot is very similar. They have been adding in more brand name things but the prices are way better than anything around here. I try to do all my shopping at Costco or SaL. For beauty/household items I shop CVS because with coupons and ecbs things are mostly free or very little out of pocket.

[Enrique]

39. my Save A Lot has awesome music

the manager says it's a satellite channel and it sounds like it's from someone's personal collection. Last time I went there I heard "Sail on sailor" by the Beach Boys and "Only a fool would say that" by Steely Dan.

[bigbrother05]

30. I love Aldi

that is where I shopped in Germany for 5 years

[kskiska]

32. It's a good place for nuts and chocolate

You can buy a big German dark chocolate bar for just over a dollar. Around Christmas they had fantastic raspberry-filled dark chocolate balls (golf ball size).

[greenbriar]

33. I just got back from there spent 50 bucks

and had more sacks than when I spent 186 dollars yesterday

[JitterbugPerfume]

35. our local ALDI

smells like rotten meat and mouldy vegetables. I will stick with Meijers

edit--I love Trader Joes .

[lame54]

36. The same family owns Trader Joe's

we do the bulk of our shopping between these two stores

[annonymous]

37. I shop there regularly

They have decent prices on canned goods but the produce is not that fresh and the meat is not the best quality. Their frozen pizzas are good but the selection of breakfast food other than cereal leaves much to be desired. The Aldi near me doesn't have donuts, English muffins or sweet rolls and is notorious for running out of stuff on the weekends when most people do their shopping. I only go there because it is close to my home.

[gollygee]

38. If I could get dairy without growth hormones there

I'd do it. There's other stuff I could get there though. I should check it out.

[Greyhound]

40. Have you shopped @ TJs? How do they compare? n/t

[elehhhhna]

42. Welcome to a place that fired EVERY store manager when they hit 40.

They did it across the board in the Raygun admin (maybe Bush 1). They also tried to deny them all unemployment. They bragged about their pension plan but nobody ever made it to collecting. After 10 to 15 years of 70 hour weeks, they hit 40 and BUH BUY.

[Riley133]

45. A lawsuit was recently brought against their egg distributor (animal advocacy).

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/02-20-2008/0004759213&EDATE=

[mdmc]

48. I've been big on ALDI for some time

:kick:

I also like Shoprite and Stop&Shop = both Teamster run :kick:

[Godhumor]

50. Wegmans would have to set fire to a Nun before I shopped somewhere else

http://www.wegmans.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/HomepageView?storeId=10052&catalogId=10002&langId=-1

One great reason to live in Upstate NY.

[Zookeeper]

51. I've checked them out a couple of times....

Was somewhat underwhelmed. I don't know where their food comes from and am uneasy about buying food that may be from countries with even lower standards than ours.

We did finally break down and join Costco, which is a 15 minute drive from us. Since we are a family of five, we decided it would probably be worth it, even if we only went there once or twice a month.