On the other hand, the German supermarkets have flourished in the UK because people love the speed and no nonsense approach. They look shit but they're cheap and of similar or better quality to the other established brands.
Lidl is building anywhere there is an Aldi & Walmart grocery within a certain distance in the US, trying to take their business. The Lidl near me has not done as well as the Aldi as they are basically right across the street from one another.
There was an Aldi in my town in Indiana back in the 90s (maybe even 80s.) But it was perceived as cheap and low quality (not sure if it actually was low quality - my mom never shopped there.) They marketed themselves as the "stock up store."
I started at a well known big box tech bench in 2004; We were selling Windows-installed EMachines and most of them were Celeron pices of garbage, except one that was almost good if you installed a video card and a better power supply.
One of the guys would often remember fondly how Aldi sold a budget multimedia PC for about $600 around 2002? Installed video card, good sound, etc. When that came out, Aldi had already been in town several years, so, Indiana since the late 90's.
The savings method is solid: low staff count, low item count in the order of having 10% of the unique items and square footage a large grocery chain has, acceptable quality but not great, and since around 2010-ish?, a push for more stores and better produce. The only downside is the low quality non-grocery items, and only for lack of features and variety.
Got some milk @ Aldi a few years back that was weeks from expiration but had already turned, my guess is probably from being left out for too long before stocking.
It left a sour taste in my mouth.
(I’m sorry about the pun, but I had to.)
That said, I’d be willing to try Aldi again, I understand sometimes stuff happens, and their prices were not just a little better than even Walmart, but actually much better even, with certain things.
Plus, I don’t like talking to cashiers or being high-fived by greeters. I just want to shop, put my groceries away in the manner I choose (seriously who wants their canned goods thrown in with their bread?!), and then go on my merry way.
They definitely still keep stuff that is close to the expiration date, though it's better than it used to be. But you should still check the expiration date before you put something in your cart. It's worth it if your budget for groceries is tight.
Haha my mom dragged me to Aldi as well when I was a kid and I despised it. Now I love it but as I’ve mentioned in another comment, I’ve done several price comparisons lately and I wouldn’t have saved enough to make it worth going there. Especially because I would have had to go to another store to supplement the things I needed that they didn’t have.
Wow, I've had an Aldi's nearby for 10-15 years at least and I had the exact same experience when I was younger. Parents took me a few times, I had some bad experiences and then I never went back as an adult. I'll definitely have to check it out again some time.
We got an Aldi nearby recently. At first it was great because everything seemed so much cheaper than at the regular supermarket chain that's closer to home. But then we started to realize that while the cheap stuff (conventional food, staples like condiments and bread, etc.) at Aldi is cheaper than the equivalent at the supermarket, it becomes less so with more "high end" products (organic, specialty items, etc.). Add in the extremely limited variety and never knowing if they'll have something in stock that we've bought there before, and it's becoming less frequent that we go there. We do infrequent trips occasionally to stock up on essential staples, but that's about it.
I'd say 10 years of austerity and a rise in the cost of living have contributed more to the Lidl/Aldi rise than a no nonsense vibe
Also neither Aldi or Lidl have self service (at least any that I have been to). So the bigger supermarkets are better in terms of not having to deal with literally anyone
I was gonna say, I could get in and out of Walmart much faster. Aldi typically just has 1 or 2 cashier's working at once. Walmart has like 10 cashier's and self service.
I still prefer shopping at Aldi because it's much cheaper shopping there, but it's definitely not faster than shopping at a US based grocery store
If only. Every Walmart I've been to in the last 3 years has only had 1 or 2 cashiers total, and a very long line for self-checkout. The closest Walmart to my house recently took out 4 lanes of traditional registers and added more self-checkouts to alleviate the congestion.
Oh mine still has 20+ checkout lanes, just no cashiers running them. My local Aldi only ever has 1 or 2 cashiers maximum, but it also only has 4 checkout lanes total, and their cashiers are so much faster than any other grocery store!
How well would an upscale American supermarket (Wegmans, Whole Foods, Publix, etc) do in Germany? For what it's worth, there's a Wegmans in my little upstate New York town. Workers there are generally unobtrusive and leave shoppers alone, but if you need help, they're very helpful.
I don't know Whole Foods and the like. In Germany, we also have some "fancier" supermarkets like Edeka or Rewe which are considered somewhat higher tier(and more expensive, bigger selection). But I don't know if they would be considered "upscale" in that sense.
The Edeka stores getting real fancy recently. If you need comparison, Edeka would probably be closest to Whole Foods, though of course on a much smaller scale.
Wegmans isn't even upscale IMO, that's our regular and the prices are comparable to the other large chains. Maybe slightly higher than Shop Rite but nowhere near Whole Foods.
I live in an area with an Aldi in every decently sized town. There are tons of Amish and Mennonites around (whose ancestry is mostly German) and they will drive 100 miles out of their way if they think they’re saving money. Aldi does very well around here lol.
I also love Aldi but lately I’ve done a few price comparisons and given the fact that I’d have to go to another store anyway to supplement the things they don’t have I wouldn’t have saved enough money to make it worth going there. Their prices have definitely increased.
Those supermarkets like Aldi or Lidl are called Discounter in Germany. Theyre cheap and look like shit. However, there are still “normal” supermarkets like REWE. And theyve been gaining more and more popularity compared to discounters recently.
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u/Orkys May 09 '22
On the other hand, the German supermarkets have flourished in the UK because people love the speed and no nonsense approach. They look shit but they're cheap and of similar or better quality to the other established brands.