While a mega merger between two of America’s largest grocery chains is snarled in regulatory red tape, a smaller European entrant is eyeing a major expansion in the US.
Aldi is great. Walmart has been robbing small towns in America without competition for long enough. I hope more Americans shop at Aldi and save more money while getting healthier food at a fair price.
I like how from the perspective of outsiders, Aldi is "small". They're huge here in Europe along with Lidl. The two make a meme of establishing shops next to each other wherever either exist.
I am glad that Aldi is setting up shops in US. The chain is pretty cheap though the food quality is okay compared to others. I haven't really heard anything bad about Aldi so they are pretty good employers unlike many American shops like Walmart.
I did nearly all of my shopping at Aldi when I was unemployed. Now I have a job and Aldi is still great, no reason to spend more at other grocery stores. I genuinely like a lot of their store brand stuff too
We shop at Aldi and TJ's regularly. The grocery stores in my area charge literally double for many of the same items. Considering the grocery stores probably pay lower wholesale prices than either Aldi or TJ's it yet another example of the highest corporate profits in 70 years.
New England resident here. I find Aldi to be alright. The lower price point is definitely noticeable, especially when you compare with other big players in the area like ShopRite and Stop&Shop.
I switched over to Aldi since 2020, they are quite decent when it comes to the basics.
Good to know they are expanding. Aldi's Sister concern Trader Joe's is already heavily present in the New England region, although I suspect they have a more 'niche' group of customers.
In Germany you usually have a little shopping center with Aldi and/or Lidl, a DM and an Edeka. Once you have finished shopping at Aldi and DM you can pop into Edeka and get the 1 or 2 items you didn't get at Aldi and DM.
Many people in Germany are doing it like that. Edeka seems to florish from the people who prefer branded products and/or can't get into 2 shops because they don't go grocery shopping by car and can't really visit more than 1 shop, because you can't enter a 2nd one with a bag full of goods from the 1st one.
Friggen love aldi. I'm kinda disappointed every time I have to go somewhere else now. Just wish they had longer hours cause my sleep disorder means it's hard to make it there before they close sometimes
Aldi and Lidl have done very well in the UK; they're well run businesses. They're private and focused, pay & treat their staff well and they have a focused but good product range. They used to have a bad reputation but when the financial crisis hit in 2011 people started taking them seriously and they've expanded rapidly. They really do offer good quality at good prices.
I don't know what the US retail industry is like, but if it was anything like the UK's (dominated by a few large supermarket chains with big stores, and bloated product lines) then they will do well. There are 1,020 Aldi stores in the UK - and we're about 1/5 the size population of the US wise. 800 stores is a sizeable number and they apparently already have 2,400 stores there.
Hmm, on plus side, Aldi tends to run cheaper and have generally decent quality for the prices. On the down side, Aldi also owns TJ's, who's currently trying to overturn the NLRB and thereby destroy most of the infrastructure of American labor law.
I just go to Kroger, because they suck, but they haven't signed on to abolish a huge swath American labor law with some spurious bullshit
I'm convinced this "pinch" people are still feeling is the result of people forgetting that the government gave them money to go out and stimulate the economy during a pandemic where they had few places to spend money.
With a handful of exceptions in the grocery store, all signals are suggesting the American economy is as good as, if not better than, it was prior to 2020. The items mentioned in the linked article have increased in cost just as they always have when environmental variables have an impact on goods and services - it's not about the economy or inflation. If anything, we should be paying more attention to climate change in order to bring our grocery bill down.
If you're trying to save money at the food store, I would highly suggest finding a local produce market or farmers market. I shop at this little local market in my city where my total weekly bill is usually around $80 (actually down from over $100 in 2021). I shopped at an Aldi once, the limited produce was literally nearly garbage and the prices were not great compared to what I normally pay. We all buy different things though so YMMV.