Posted on 12/27/2013 12:50:27 AM PST by iowamark
Chances are that you have never set foot inside the best grocery store in America: Aldi. And even if you are lucky enough to be in one of the 32 states where Aldi is, perhaps you were put-off by the cardboard boxes in lieu of shelves, or the row upon row of suspicious-looking off-brands. What is this place? Why do I have to put down a deposit to check out a cart? What is the weird giant shelf by the exit? And what do you mean, I have to pay for a bag?
Calm your hormones, meine Schatzis: Aldi, which is short for Albrecht Discount, is the American incarnation of a German grocery chain that is so ubiquitous in the Vaterland that almost 90 percent of Germans shop there...
A disagreement in 1960 over selling cigarettes hastened a partition, and an epic game of grocery-store Risk: Theo would rename his business Aldi Nord, and would control territories north of the Rhine, plus a healthy chunk of Europe. Karl would head up Aldi Süd, and get southern Germany, more of Europe, plus the U.K. and Ireland. But both companies operate stores in the United States—Aldi Süd operates as Aldi, and Aldi Nord as the now ubiquitous Trader Joe’s.
But whereas Trader Joe’s employs just one major cost-saving device—private labeling—everything else about it is Americanized. The place is swarming with upbeat employees; cashiers stand at the till and bag your products for you; you just grab a cart willy-nilly and they trust you to put it back. Aldi also private-labels (those $1.99 “Millville” Rice Squares are Chex, you guys!), but what makes it a more exciting venture—and even cheaper than Trader Joe’s—is that it has imported the entire German grocery experience...
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
“You can always tell an American in Germany by the way they incredulously don’t get that nobody is going to bag their groceries for them—they’re expected to do so (and schnell!) while the seated cashier is ringing them up...
As for the cart: It requires a deposit, and customers must return them to their rightful place—without the help of an employee—if they want their money back...
This is why I am hoping for Aldi’s rousing success in Amiland: so that more of our stores, and our culture in general, will incorporate such Teutonic efficiency. First the cost-savings of bagging our own groceries—then the ubiquitous bicycle lanes; immaculate, punctual public transportation; and, finally, required paid vacation and parental leave.
No thank you.
Do we get to pay the Kraut value added tax too?
Guess Rebecca’s never been to a Wegmans...
Yes, interesting socialist ending, isn’t it? Perhaps she had to add that to get it published in Slate.
Shop there all the time. It’s the closest grocery store to our home but we used to drive almost 20 miles to get to one. A dozen eggs for less than a dollar, a gallon of milk for $1.99, soup starts at .39, inexpensive bacon, small appliances, kitchen gadgets and toys for 50-75% less than other stores... What’s not to like? Oh, and the grocery bags are only a nickel and they provide empty cardboard boxes if you don’t want to buy bags. Yes, you have to put a quarter into a slot to get a shopping cart. You get your quarter back when you return the cart.
I shop at Aldi...good prices, and their store brand products are of good quality. Their check out is really quick, even if there are lines. And the ones in my area now are selling Coca Cola products...which means my grocery shopping is almost exclusively Aldi
While milk is not quite the $1.99 it is where you are (after all, this IS New York..) it is $2.69 while the name supermarkets in the area sell it at anywhere from $3.99 to $4.35 a gallon... Butter $1.65 a pound versus $3.99..
What's not to like.. ;-)
LMAO...sorry...not in the mood for horsemeat dinners...
I went into an Aldi’s precsely once and that will always be true. I figured out they wanted a quarter deposit on their carts; I had no change. I went into the store; they had no customer service desk. I flagged down a bored employee explaining I had no change; she said she didn’t either and kept walking.
Fukc them all. My American dollars are supporting an American owned chain.
We don’t have a Trader Joe’s here, but Aldi’s has been around this area for 15 years or more. Had no idea they were connected. Thanks iowamark.
They opened one nearby. It wasn’t the low rent appearance, it was the crappy produce that turned me off.
Trader Joe’s was started by an American with the first store in Pasadena, CA. It was bought by Aldi Nord in 1979.
Great.
I know they’re not related, but honestly the first thing I thought was that this was going to be about “Trader Vic’s”.
Not everyone can afford wegmans.
Use a Trader Joes here in MD. Don’t care for their produce but everything else is OK
Suit yourself...not for me...my mom used to drive her 560 SEL to Aldi
Bless her heart....and to Save A Lot
I do Wallyworld and Dollar General and Dollar General Market
But prefer Publix and Harris Teeter....Piggly Wiggly for ground beef...high fat for grill hand patted burgers
For fancy I do Fresh Market....without peer...the Dean and DeLuca of Dixie
Wild Oats/Whole Foods...not much....they sell their aged meat ground for cheap
And soaps are good
Too many PC types.......
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