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ElisabethWhispers · 05-10-2010, 05:48 PM

I'm seeing these stores pop up all over the place. I also have received some coupons in the mail. Has anyone visited this store yet? If you have, what do you think of it? They look small from the outside.

All of the sudden, they seem to be everywhere.

Curious.

Elisabeth

airlineguy12 · 05-10-2010, 06:12 PM

I went last week, cheap prices true but I'm not a big fan of most "store brand" stuff, they dont seem to have a lot of national brands and the meat section reminded me of Food Lion so I don't think i'll be back. They also charge for the bags you put the food in (they are reuseable), make you bag them yourself and charge a .25c deposit for the cart to insure you bring it back and not leave it out in the parking lot. All to keep employee cost down I'm sure.

Tara Evans · 05-10-2010, 06:14 PM

I have been there once, and dont like it. If you want to get a grocery cart you have to put a coin in it to pull it out, then when you put the cart back up you get your coin back. They say this is too keep the baskets from ending up everywhere. They also dont have sacks to put your items in, if you want one you have to buy one, or just put the loose items in your basket and take them home that way. For all of that no thanks.

Captain Caveman · 05-10-2010, 06:19 PM

They had these stores back east. I was never impressed with them and didn't visit much. I remember them being generic and off brands back then.

bigbobftworth · 05-10-2010, 07:13 PM

German owned grocery store chain, and to me they are a step below Food Lion. Albertson's is really struggling with the few stores they have left, Tom Thumb is slowly loosing market share, Winn Dixie closed and is gone along with Food Lion and Aldi will soon follow.

ANONONE · 05-10-2010, 07:18 PM

They are a budget oriented grocery store and are growing because of the poor economy, much like the influx of new talent has come into the hobby to undercut the mainstream prices.

Competition is good in the market, no matter the commodity being traded.

We had either Kroger, Miejers or Marsh and all three had high prices until a few of these Aldis started popping up and then soon prices dropped everywhere. The quality is a bit lower, but hey if you are living on a budget. . .

w900l · 05-10-2010, 07:26 PM

I haven't been to a ALDI store but I read they only take cash or a debit card, I won't be going to shop there.

Guest071613-2 · 05-10-2010, 07:34 PM

I'm not impressed with their selection, but I almost accepted a job there before I got my wits about me and came back here.

I will say that they appear to take good care of their employees. I was offered $17/hr. to be a shift manager, which is more than I made salaried, as the counter manager for a cosmetics line at Macy's...as well as a full benefits package and 401k after 90 days. Then I remembered how much I hate working with the general public....

..... I understand they offer their checkers $10 an hour, which ain't too shabby for a high-school kid looking for P/T work.

ElisabethWhispers · 05-10-2010, 07:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bigbobftworth

German owned grocery store chain, and to me they are a step below Food Lion. Albertson's is really struggling with the few stores they have left, Tom Thumb is slowly loosing market share, Winn Dixie closed and is gone along with Food Lion and Aldi will soon follow.

I never went to a Food Lion so I don't know how they were.

Where I live, I shop at a Tom Thumb and down the street at the Kroger because they do have good baked goods and I like to buy flowers. The fruit is nicer. I didn't realize that these stores were having problems. I used to love Minyards in Dallas only because they used to be locally owned before the sisters sold the chain ... then it went kaput.

So are you suggesting that Walmart is overtaking all of these food chains?

Also, how do you figure that Aldi markets are going by the wayside as well? There is another grand opening at the end of this week just up the street from where I live. Then there is another one about 2 miles in another direction.

They either have a lot of money backing them or do they know something that we don't? Not criticizing your post, in fact I appreciated it, but I just wonder what the marketing plan is because from what I'm reading from everyone here, it's really not a very good grocery store.

Elisabeth

ElisabethWhispers · 05-10-2010, 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by airlineguy12

I went last week, cheap prices true but I'm not a big fan of most "store brand" stuff, they dont seem to have a lot of national brands and the meat section reminded me of Food Lion so I don't think i'll be back. They also charge for the bags you put the food in (they are reuseable), make you bag them yourself and charge a .25c deposit for the cart to insure you bring it back and not leave it out in the parking lot. All to keep employee cost down I'm sure.

I could see myself, if I was in a hurry, saying screw the quarter and leave the cart by my vehicle. But also charging for the bags, etc., reminds me of those Sack N Save stores in Dallas. I don't know if I spelled that right but I'm probably pretty close.

The few times that I went there, they were a pain in the ass in terms of customer service and the prices didn't seem that remarkably lower, overall. Plus, the stores were just kindof dirty and yucky but these stores are new so that probably isn't an issue at this point.

I'm sure that's why you and others have suggested is the economy will allow this chain, at least for awhile, to flourish. I sincerely appreciate all of the comments so far! Wow.

Elisabeth

guest042312 · 05-10-2010, 08:06 PM

While many of the things said above are true let me expand some

1. Carts do cost .25 cents.. but is returned once you give the cart back. Not sure of the logic here as If I was going to steal a cart I would pay .25 cents for it
2. True.. The do not take Credit Cards, Only Debit and Cash.. As Credit card companys can charge up to 5% of the total for transactions
3. While the products are NOT name brand I have personally used many of them. In many cases they are name brand products with a different label

Quality - Aldi comes from Germany, It is said that they are the reason Walmart left Germany as they just could not keep up.

Bags - yep bring your own or buy them.. I have no issues with this as 90% of the time we all just throw the bags away after we get home

Selection - Yes.. You will not find 15 different brands of the same item. Typically one or two this makes it look like they have very few items but they actually have a decent amount (but not your standard 100,000 products)

Overall I rate the place a 8 in regards to what it is trying to be. It is not a full service market but it is very good at what it attempts to be, Good quality, low price and a better than average product with what it has. Don't get me wrong Some items are overpriced though.. Just like any other market

Dharma · 05-10-2010, 08:14 PM

My daughter loved to shop there when she was a student in Chicago. She got all squealy when she saw the first one go up. Personally, I'm begging for HEB to build closer. Lower prices and the produce section is huge with very nice selections. (The one on Lover's Lane is gourmet only and doesn't carry regular items.) For now, I'll stick to Sprouts and Kroger but my girls like Aldi.

tsrv4me · 05-10-2010, 08:29 PM

They are a fake and a fraud .....They used to have stores,warehouses, and offices in Burlington,Iowa ...One night they loaded everything up into trucks and left town,nothing there when employees showed up for work the next morning except empty buildings and security guards not letting anyone on the property .......no explanation,no pay for workers left holding the bag ..no nothing ....I haven't been in one of their stores since and will not go in one...I'm sure they dont miss my business but its the pricipal of the thing ... there is a right way to do things and a wrong way ..there way was the wrong way ....T

ElisabethWhispers · 05-10-2010, 08:34 PM

When the store just closed like that, they didn't pay their employees? Period? Isn't this a chain? Or are these stores a franchise?

It seems as if people are really all over the map on this one ... but I'm still leaning towards not liking it even though I haven't been in one, yet.

Elisabeth

P.S. Dharma, Central Market on Lover's Lane does have "regular" HEB and grocery products. It's just that if you want Peter Pan peanut butter, you have to look at the very bottom shelf to find it. And with all of the organic milks, they will have the lower price HEB milks but you have to search for it and sometimes it's harder to find. And other products are the same. But generally, yes, it's very expensive and high end. That's my experience with it as well.

I need to check out a Sprouts store. I get those fliers as well. Hugs.

bigbobftworth · 05-10-2010, 09:36 PM

Aldi is not a franchise group, it is a very large chain and they do have money. About half their locations are leased. The way most big retail and grocery stores operate is as follows:

1. Store is built as a lease from a developer

No money out of pocket from Aldi

2. The product is below average and their own brand but packaged by an indepedent company that puts Aldi's Store brand labels on the merchandise and shipped to the stores, with an invoice that must be paid out in 30 days.

Again no money out of pocket

3. Aldi's and other companies including Wal-Mart operate this way. The only real expense is labor.

Many stores can be opened with very little expense to the operator. But it does not take long if an operators cash flow is very low or even negative to have a great impact on an operators ability to keep stores open. Oh many brands and operators will have like a 3 to 5 year plan to build stores, market share and advertising. But when things are bad, a chain will pull the plug on new markets very fast. Easier to just pay rent and sell off its real estate assets than to keep operating stores.

Wal-Mart like them or hate them is a force and the largest grocery store chain. I prefer Central Market or even Fiesta. They both have the best produce selections in town.