Americans embrace Aldi as German discounter becomes fastest-growing supermarket in US
Aldi becomes fastest-growing supermarket in US, transforming the grocery landscape with its unique offerings.
It's like poetry.
There's a great song about Walmart, you know.
Nope, Aldi US has taken american chains' values already.
A store you can quickly get in and out of with a variety of everyday items at a reasonable price that seems to pay its employees well. What's not too love?
Also, several in my area have implemented self checkouts that don't removed you out for every single item. I can scan everything from my cart and bag it up later at a counter or my car if the weather's nice.
I wish more of mine had the self-checkouts. The ones that don't, it's a minimum 10 minute wait in line to check out. Never more than one cashier during the hours I go.
Fun Fact: Around 30 years ago, Walmart tried to get into the German market and got completely obliterated.
Then the German discounters counterattacked and the rest is history.
Fun Fact2: This is just Aldi Süd(South). Aldi Nord(North) is also active in the US as Trader Joe.
Gutes Video
Add on fun fact: Aldi South and North are owned separately by 2 brothers from Germany.
they're really efficient and cheap in my experience. they sell no-bullshit products. they don't spend much money on advertisement so they don't have to add that money to their expenses and therefore prices.
supermarkets make most money with highly-processed foods. every processing step adds another middleman that wants a slice of the price and that already increases the price, so you pay $5 instead of $2 for the raw products, and then the supermarket thinks "well, let's add a 10% profit margin" and makes that price $5.50 instead of $2.20, thereby further increasing the difference in prices. aldi mostly sells basic products that are not so heavily processed (at least where i live) so there's not much extra costs there.
They also let the cashier sit down...
I have worked for two producers here in the UK that supply Aldi. Basically Aldi want to match the leading brand and be cheaper.
Neither of the companies i worked were the leading brand but the Aldi product we made (for both companies) match it.
As a norm I buy from Aldi knowing they always try to get the leading brand matching quality for less.
Cheapest eggs I’ve seen. Not everything is great quality. But, for certain items I’ll make the extra stop.
Paid $1.65 for eggs there the other day. Half the cheapest regular grocery store price in my area. Meats at Aldi aren’t so great. Cuts are tougher, and I’ve found that the per-pound cost is about the same as the lower prices at regular stores. Aldi’s stuff isn’t trimmed as well, and once you get the fat trimmed you wind up about the same $/lb. Chicken is still a decent deal there.
Fun fact: Aldi are basically the only supermarket chain where they don't force their staff to stand up, and provide all cashiers with chairs
We need to bring back right to sit laws in the US. They were passed in most states in the early 20th century, but most have been repealed with time and the general decline of labor rights. Those laws also were sexist and only applied to women. But we could absolutely use gender-neutral right to sit laws.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_sit_in_the_United_States
That's so weird. I simply see no reason why all the other US-chains force their employees to stand behind the counter.
surely a fine indicator of things in the US
shopped at Aldi all my life. honestly, their product quality rivals local specialty stores. they lack variety, but the quality for the price is amazing.
I didn't know what aldi was until I was like 26 and somebody showed me the unbelievably cheap wine. and the cart system.. Aldi is a place of comfort and solace compared to the shit I've seen in other supermarkets
no longer have aldi, but winco is pretty sick
How "buy European" is this? Doesn't Aldi have completely separate, American, supply chains for the vast majority of the products...?
They have to otherwise they would be impossibly expensive, importation of goods is not cheap. Their strategy is to sell as many of their own branded products as possible making them as close to premium quality as possible without compromising price. (Unlike a certain grocery chain in Canada that I could mention)
When you see it as black and white than Aldi equals any other US business - but i'd argue it's a more gradual thing and there is an actual difference. First because the top company is European a larger part ends up in European hands and also it could mean difference in policies.
it's entirely american aside from the name/ownership.
Trader Joe's is Aldi Nord. Aldi is Aldi Sud. Same business model where they direct person from a supplier than put it under their own label.
It's EU in their values, of having good pay and not expecting staff to do bullshit like unpaid overtime
Eat your heart out Walmart :D
It's trying!
Walmart and the Walmart family is a scourge on mankind, making billions off of workers and recommending their employees get food stamps.
Their downfall cannot come sooner.
I think it's more a joke about how Walmart tried expanding to Germany in the 90s and failed spectacularly and hilariously.
and recommending their employees get food stamps.
i mean i also recommend everyone to get food stamps if they can because why wouldn't you, it's extra income.
Literally been there since the 90s.
I feel like I went to aldi in the 80's but I honestly can't remember for sure but yeah its been a huge light for non wealthy americans.
Build one in my town plz
I keep hearing people say I should go to aldis but every one I've been to had limited inventory, wilted produce and rotten meat. The only people I know who consistently go there are the type of folks who only care about how cheap something is no matter how terrible the quality.
But at least they treat their employees like people.
I've never had an issue with the meat, I will admit on weekends the produce is pretty picked over if you show up right after a rush on the weekend.
But as Joni Mitchell once sang "I don't care about spots on my apples, leave me the birds and the bees"
Wait, they sell birds and bees!? I need this! Pop was going to explain it to me, but he had to make a longer trip to a different store for his smokes. Guess he's still looking for them...
Any Aldi Ive gone to in Australia is the same quality as any other supermarket. Albeit with rip-off names of most things, but 90% of the time they’re literally from the same factory as the original.
I worked at a food manufacturer that supplied to Aldi. Literally our same product, just an Aldi created label with their branding.
Yeah exactly lol
I’ve never been to an American Aldi that fits your description. I’ve been to about 5, in two states.
I've been to 3 in 2 states they were all quite depressing, "the goodwill of food" as a buddy of mine put it.
I have one Aldi I usually go and another 2 relatively close and one never had any issues with the meat or produce. The only thing is that there is a super market that gets very fresh produce so I prefer to get it from there, but there's nothing wrong with Aldi, and the quality seems to be the same as three Walmart or the Kroger that are any a mile away
I agree with the limited inventory, it's rare to complete a grocery trip at an Aldi, I have to go to another super market after but the low prices and experience makes it good enough to make it my primary market
Okay, I was starting to think it was just me. Maybe it's just the locations I've been to, but I had the same experience. Totally not seeing the hype.
I'm in a semi rural area and you can tell our store is the end of their supply line. Produce is always horrid and worse than walmarts Even their canned goods are of a noticably lower quality than the store brand at kroger or Walmart. I'll stop by there for a handful of specific things every now and then, but only for snacky things like Knoopers.
Admittedly though, the Aldi by my parents's house in Houston has much higher quality produce, so that seems to be very location dependent.
That's because of America. The ALDIs in Europe are the exact same, sometimes even superior, in quality to big box grocers when it comes to meat and produce (better salmon than Sainsbury's ime).
Most likely reason ALDI never caught on in the states if you ask me.
please come to Seattle
Best kettle cooked potato chip on the market, less than $2. Their peanut butter is better than Jif, Skippy, or Peter Pan, and it's only about $3. Mayo is exactly the same as Hellman's, at less than $4. Great French Bread Pizzas for $3, and you don't have to add more cheese and pepperoni when you get home.
Lots of great chocolates, cheese, snacks, etc. I know someone who has a charcuterie catering biz, and she sources EVERYTHING at Aldi, including the serving trays and utensils.
There's the occasional dud, but almost everything is first rate, and much cheaper.
So "affordability" isn't a Democrat hoax? Well I'll be...
Sounds like a good deal. We don't have any Aldi's where I live in the US but Winco is the locally comparable grocer. Totally on their A-game. Like the difference in prices between Winco and any competing grocery store is startling and they treat their employees drastically better.
Seattle?
They have an amazing dark chocolate selection for cheap
I went in and shot that in Aldi for the first time this past week. Unfortunately didn't have a quarter for the cart so I couldn't use it. Which isn't a huge deal had I known about it. But there was also six people online in one person working so there's no way I could even get some change to be able to put a quarter in so I instead I had to grab a box and carry everything around. Which isn't a huge deal but it made it very inconvenient and I did purchase less things because of that fact. I did enjoy their selection even though that particular store I was in was fairly small. It did have most of the things that I needed. And there were a number of things there that I looked at but didn't need. Overall I would probably use an Aldi to supplement my shopping at a large grocery store.
Oh and I'm also going to 3D print one of those Aldi tokens so that way I have it on my keychain whenever I'm in another state that actually has them.
I've never had to pay for a cart when in lived near one. Someone usually just gave me one as I walked past and I kept the chain going.
This is the way
Aldi doesn't have anything on Grocery Outlet Bargain Market.
The more money they make the closer they get to changing to become just like Walmart. Money > everything.
I dunno. The Aldis I've been to in the last 20 years or so seem the same as they did back then.
Although the cashier uses barcodes instead of superhuman typing on a keypad and somehow remembering the price of every single item in the store. Always thought that was suss.
I'm from Germany and Aldi hasn't changed for as long as I can remember which is about 30 years. They got a bit cleaner and nicer if anything.