My first experience with Aldi was in Frankfurt when my then girlfriend (now wife) wanted me to go get her something that was on sale/a deal. It left an impression - it was a mix of US black friday and hypersensitivity to efficiency. Know what you want, focus on retrieving those items, and be efficient. Lots of grumbling if you held someone up or weren't ready to pay at the checkout counter. It was one sampling, but I still remember it 11 years later.
The Aldis in Illinois roughly 20 years ago were bottom-barrel discount grocery stores. Poorly maintained and all the produce was very suspicious. I don't know which half of the Aldi empire owned those stores.
Aldi has improved in the Chicago area in the last decade. There's been a wave of new construction in more affluent suburbs and stores have expanded to include liquor sales in certain areas.
But yeah, it's still no frills. Staples like milk and baking goods are dirt cheap, but I wouldn't chance the produce. Lots of processed food. Bakery is all mass-produced.
Interestingly, the supermarkets I've been to in Germany lately are becoming more like US ones (Rewe, Edeka) but some are still super no-frills (Penny Markt, Norma)
That's a scary thought.. As recently as 2011 when given an Aldi and a Rewe next door to each other, it was really difficult to ever choose Aldi (in fact, the only reason to really venture in was their cheap and unlimited 3G SIM card resales). That said, Rewe managed to also make itself more useful in the process by actually having everything I needed so the extra price ended up working out, to some degree, if you count convenience.
It is. The Aldi's in Wisconsin, USA are pretty much the exact same as the one I was at in Berlin, except for different brands. Pretty much the same layout, except the Berlin one had beer.
> The Aldis in Illinois roughly 20 years ago were bottom-barrel discount grocery stores. Poorly maintained and all the produce was very suspicious. I don't know which half of the Aldi empire owned those stores.
All Aldis in the United States are Aldi South. The two Aldis are territorially-exclusive when it comes to the Aldi branding.
Incidentally, Aldi South has a different logo from Aldi North. So you can go to any country with an Aldi and tell which half it belongs to.
Really? In most of Europe Aldi is associated with poor quality. Great place to buy canned food, toilet paper or cleaning products but not the place you'd want to buy meat, milk or veggies.
I am not sure it's fair anymore. Part of it probably came from the fact that the fixtures used to be so run down. Long after all other stores had started using bar codes, Aldi employees had to memorize PLU codes.
It's not fair at all in Britain. The whole "Didldidi" Mitchell & Webb snobbishness conceals the fact that Aldi's food is generally of better quality and cheaper than Tesco's or Asda's.
It doesn't tend to be as good as Sainsbury's, and of course it doesn't compete with M&S or Waitrose, but Aldi is the only store which seems to bring both decent jobs and affordable essentials to poorer communities. I have a massive soft spot for Aldi.
I've actually talked about them on HN before, embarrassingly.
Probably mainland Europe (esp. France) has better options, I'm sure.
That's certainly a relevant test, and I'd like to see the method and results.
I can believe it, if only because the quality of the best fresh produce at Aldi tends to be very high, but that of the worst tends to be relatively low.
You definitely have to be a little more careful if you're looking for the best produce.
That said, I would be surprised if Tesco, Asda, or Iceland were included in this test.
This is a popular myth, especially among people not familiar with Aldi concept! Aldi sells the BEST quality for the lowest price (unlike Lidl). They sell cca. 720 products (usually 3-4 in each category) and get mass discounts nobody else can get at producers. If you buy vegetables in Aldi it is graded first class! They have a huge bio/certified organic food department as well.
People who care about quality and economics buy at Aldi!
reading other comments I think Aldi in the UK is run as a completely different operation from the rest of Europe. I also have only positive experiences for Aldi. Fresh, good food at excellent prices.
... or maybe we in the UK are just used to much worse ...
Shoppping at Lidl And Aldi is an exercise in picking and choosing. Some stuff is utter rubbish but some stuff is remarkable value for money. The best regular olive oil I've bought has come from Lidl, as has the best instant coffee. Aldi is frequently recommended to me as a place to get good quality venison or pheasant - something that just doesn't turn up in regular British supermarkets.
German Aldis offer good customer experience and the assorment of goods has come close to premium supermarkets in affluent areas, giving the old nickname "Feinkost Albrecht" a new meaning.
At the same time, they have recently been getting their share of criticism for how they pay and treat their workers. Seems like they're still well avove Lidl, but not a prime example any more.
An Aldi opened nearby about two years ago. Every package of fish was imported from China. Every package of frozen meat was imported from China. I love low prices but I'm not going to eat suspect product to get them.
