Aldi Locations in California

[BillyGr]

Grocery strategist Burt P. Flickinger said Aldi stores in California have the potential to generate sales of $30 million to $35 million per store, per year. That compares with $12 million to $14 million for Albertsons; $15 million to $16 million for Vons; and $17 million to $18 million for Ralphs.

Garden Grove is fourth O.C. city to land an Aldi http://www.ocregister.com/articles/aldi ... tores.html

With all due respect for Burt, that's not going to happen.

That is a higher per square foot sales rate than Trader Joes or higher than average store sales of Whole Foods.

I think the author of the story got it wrong.

He expects these little stores to average $670,000 a week? About the same as a Whole Foods. I don't think so.

Not really sure what they do in this area (NY State) but there are times when one goes in and sees 3 or 4 people waiting in the one open line, each with a cart filled to overflowing (if not sometimes with a 2nd cart) so that has to be a lot of sales, even with their lower prices!

Once they get to be known, there seems to be a group of people who will go there and buy most of their items there (other than a few things they might not offer), so it might not be as hard as one would think to get high sales numbers out of a smallish store.

[CalItalian]

I went into my first Aldi today. Inglewood. When I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed there were tons of spaces near the store (4 pm). I parked just a few spaces from the entrance (which had the "in" door propped open with no fan to keep out bugs...not to say we have many in Los Angeles). Store probably had about 15-20 people in it. First time I looked at the checkout, they had one line open with 5 customers. Later, I saw two with 3 in each line. Customers were mostly older and handicapped (with 4 of those riding around the store). They weren't buying much. One person was stocking. Store was pretty well stocked and very clean. Almost all the meat (chicken, pork and beef) had discount stickers on it. Mostly $1 or $2 off at the checkstand. Best deal I found was a dozen large eggs for 99 cents. That's great. I was not at all impressed with other prices - especially produce (99 Cents Only stores have better deals and more produce). They're seasonal section with lounge and beach chairs, mostly, is a joke. I had high hopes for this chain but after spending some time looking through the store, I will probably never come back. Not at all impressed. I really don't think they'll make it in Southern California. They are no competition to our current many market chains here in my view.

[veteran+]

I went into my first Aldi today. Inglewood. When I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed there were tons of spaces near the store (4 pm). I parked just a few spaces from the entrance (which had the "in" door propped open with no fan to keep out bugs...not to say we have many in Los Angeles). Store probably had about 15-20 people in it. First time I looked at the checkout, they had one line open with 5 customers. Later, I saw two with 3 in each line. Customers were mostly older and handicapped (with 4 of those riding around the store). They weren't buying much. One person was stocking. Store was pretty well stocked and very clean. Almost all the meat (chicken, pork and beef) had discount stickers on it. Mostly $1 or $2 off at the checkstand. Best deal I found was a dozen large eggs for 99 cents. That's great. I was not at all impressed with other prices - especially produce (99 Cents Only stores have better deals and more produce). They're seasonal section with lounge and beach chairs, mostly, is a joke. I had high hopes for this chain but after spending some time looking through the store, I will probably never come back. Not at all impressed. I really don't think they'll make it in Southern California. They are no competition to our current many market chains here in my view.

I agree 100%, not my cup of tea.

I understand that their stores in Chicago (I think Chicago) are larger and more like a regular supermarket.

[storewanderer]

I have never cared much for these stores either. I've been into them perhaps 4 times; once in IL, once in OK, and I forget the other two visits. My purchases over all visits have been a loaf of bread and two imported chocolate bars. I believe the past couple visits I did not purchase anything. I was happy with all of my purchases for the prices I paid. In every case I was staying within walking distance and thought oh well may as well go stroll through there. Every time I walked away thinking "no desire to come back here."

I also did not feel like the prices were particularly great. In OK, yes, they were great prices compared to the limited competition there. In IL or other markets with a lot of other stores, I felt like I could do as good or better elsewhere. Perhaps in FL they also would seem to have good prices.

The other risk I see in SoCal is any people making connections that Aldi and Trader Joes have common or some sort of related (?) ownership may dilute Trader Joes rather sterling reputation. Trader Joes isn't much more than a jazzed up Aldi anyway if you tear away the creative element of the place. Probably the same reasons Aldi did not really appeal to me are the same reasons why I've never been a huge spender at Trader Joes either. But there are a select few items I like to buy there... very happy with the quality and price... and I always find their service to be great.

There is NO WAY these stores will do $600,000 a week in sales. They will be lucky to do $250,000 a week in sales. That is a sickeningly exaggerated sales forecast based on the square footage, the hours of operation, and the mix they have (limited fresh items, no pharmacy, and limited drug which help run up sales numbers in other stores). This reminds me of the exaggerated sales forecasts that were placed upon Fresh & Easy in SoCal.

[rwsandiego]

I went into my first Aldi today. Inglewood. When I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed there were tons of spaces near the store (4 pm). I parked just a few spaces from the entrance (which had the "in" door propped open with no fan to keep out bugs...not to say we have many in Los Angeles). Store probably had about 15-20 people in it. First time I looked at the checkout, they had one line open with 5 customers. Later, I saw two with 3 in each line. Customers were mostly older and handicapped (with 4 of those riding around the store). They weren't buying much. One person was stocking. Store was pretty well stocked and very clean. Almost all the meat (chicken, pork and beef) had discount stickers on it. Mostly $1 or $2 off at the checkstand. Best deal I found was a dozen large eggs for 99 cents. That's great. I was not at all impressed with other prices - especially produce (99 Cents Only stores have better deals and more produce). They're seasonal section with lounge and beach chairs, mostly, is a joke. I had high hopes for this chain but after spending some time looking through the store, I will probably never come back. Not at all impressed. I really don't think they'll make it in Southern California. They are no competition to our current many market chains here in my view.

I agree 100%, not my cup of tea.

I understand that their stores in Chicago (I think Chicago) are larger and more like a regular supermarket.

I'm not sure about their Chicago locations being more like a regular supermarket. All of the Aldi stores I've ever seen were the standard limited-assortment Aldi fare. However, their frozen fish seemed to be high quality at a decent price. When I was a kid my parents were broke and we did a lot of our shopping there.

[veteran+]

I have never cared much for these stores either. I've been into them perhaps 4 times; once in IL, once in OK, and I forget the other two visits. My purchases over all visits have been a loaf of bread and two imported chocolate bars. I believe the past couple visits I did not purchase anything. I was happy with all of my purchases for the prices I paid. In every case I was staying within walking distance and thought oh well may as well go stroll through there. Every time I walked away thinking "no desire to come back here."

I also did not feel like the prices were particularly great. In OK, yes, they were great prices compared to the limited competition there. In IL or other markets with a lot of other stores, I felt like I could do as good or better elsewhere. Perhaps in FL they also would seem to have good prices.

The other risk I see in SoCal is any people making connections that Aldi and Trader Joes have common or some sort of related (?) ownership may dilute Trader Joes rather sterling reputation. Trader Joes isn't much more than a jazzed up Aldi anyway if you tear away the creative element of the place. Probably the same reasons Aldi did not really appeal to me are the same reasons why I've never been a huge spender at Trader Joes either. But there are a select few items I like to buy there... very happy with the quality and price... and I always find their service to be great.

There is NO WAY these stores will do $600,000 a week in sales. They will be lucky to do $250,000 a week in sales. That is a sickeningly exaggerated sales forecast based on the square footage, the hours of operation, and the mix they have (limited fresh items, no pharmacy, and limited drug which help run up sales numbers in other stores). This reminds me of the exaggerated sales forecasts that were placed upon Fresh & Easy in SoCal.

That was my feeling as well.

Trader Joes and Aldi are separately owned by different members of the same family (the Albrechts).

Fresh & Easy stores at their peak (250 or a little more than that) had barely an average store volume of 100,000. per week. That average store volume decreased year after year in operation during many downsizes and 2 ownerships. Originally they projected an average store volume of 150,000. per week at a net-net of .82 cents on the dollar. That never happened and no matter what they say they (even at the end) never broke even (the were always in the red).

There were a handful of stores that had high volume of over 200,000. per week (and that was an extremely difficult thing to do because the stores were not designed to do that kind of business). Manhattan Beach, Point Loma, Hollywood, Eagle Rock, Palm Springs and a few others.

[rwsandiego]

...I also did not feel like the prices were particularly great. In OK, yes, they were great prices compared to the limited competition there. In IL or other markets with a lot of other stores, I felt like I could do as good or better elsewhere. Perhaps in FL they also would seem to have good prices. ...

I have family living in both the Chicago area (where I grew up) and in Central Florida and all have shopped at Aldi from time to time. The Chicago family members mentioned that Aldi tends to have slightly lower prices than the major supermarkets' regular prices. The thing to remember is the cost of living in the Chicago area is fairly high and that translates into higher grocery prices. What you might think as a high price is likely standard in that area. My Central Florida family mentioned that Aldi's prices were not much different than the major supermarkets' prices and so they don't shop there. Wasn't worth the trouble of making an extra trip.

I've visited three of the new locations so far: La Verne, Arcadia, and Covina. All on weekdays during the daytime. None of the three stores was ever very busy. At the most, two checkstands were open. I'm not sure how well it's going over-- maybe they just haven't done enough promotion?

My dad was an Aldi shopper, mainly out of habit as we were broke when I was a kid and that's where we bought a lot of our staple items. When I would take him shopping there we always went during the week and we would be the only people in the store. However, around the first and the fifteenth of the month and on Saturdays the stores were packed. The difference, of course, is that Aldi is well-established in the Chicago area (they opened their first stores in the 1970's). My brother, who does not typically shop there, observed that they are not as packed as they were in the past thanks to the plethora of large ethnic supermarkets that have opened in the past 10 years.

All that being said, I think Burt P. Flickinger might have drunk a few too many gallons of the Friendly Farms kool-aid.

[pseudo3d]

Aldi stores are in cities without a Trader Joe's presence. The top level corporate management is also completely separate from Trader Joe's as Aldi's office is in a business park in Riverside just north of the UCR campus while Joe's has their office in Monrovia.

Both the Covina and La Puente stores are currently under construction. The Covina store on Azusa and Arrow Hwy was a Michael's Arts & Crafts that they are renovating from inside out. In La Puente (corner of Hacienda and West Francisquito), a former standalone Pizza Hut restaurant was torn down to make way for construction and the wooden frames recently went up.

On Dec 17, Aldi will host a job fair at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

I have never cared much for these stores either. I've been into them perhaps 4 times; once in IL, once in OK, and I forget the other two visits. My purchases over all visits have been a loaf of bread and two imported chocolate bars. I believe the past couple visits I did not purchase anything. I was happy with all of my purchases for the prices I paid. In every case I was staying within walking distance and thought oh well may as well go stroll through there. Every time I walked away thinking "no desire to come back here."

I also did not feel like the prices were particularly great. In OK, yes, they were great prices compared to the limited competition there. In IL or other markets with a lot of other stores, I felt like I could do as good or better elsewhere. Perhaps in FL they also would seem to have good prices.

The other risk I see in SoCal is any people making connections that Aldi and Trader Joes have common or some sort of related (?) ownership may dilute Trader Joes rather sterling reputation. Trader Joes isn't much more than a jazzed up Aldi anyway if you tear away the creative element of the place. Probably the same reasons Aldi did not really appeal to me are the same reasons why I've never been a huge spender at Trader Joes either. But there are a select few items I like to buy there... very happy with the quality and price... and I always find their service to be great.

There is NO WAY these stores will do $600,000 a week in sales. They will be lucky to do $250,000 a week in sales. That is a sickeningly exaggerated sales forecast based on the square footage, the hours of operation, and the mix they have (limited fresh items, no pharmacy, and limited drug which help run up sales numbers in other stores). This reminds me of the exaggerated sales forecasts that were placed upon Fresh & Easy in SoCal.

Who said they're in "communities without a Trader Joe's presence?" There's plenty of areas where ALDI and Trader Joe's co-exist in the same market (Houston, Dallas immediately spring to mind, though that's just me thinking of my state first). They don't compete directly with each other, of course...

[J-Man]

Aldi stores are in cities without a Trader Joe's presence.

As was pointed out earlier, this is untrue. And now, for even more proof, Aldi is coming to Monrovia. Trader Joe's has a store in Monrovia, and its national HQ is located there as well -- just a few blocks from the new Aldi.

By the way, All Aldi US stores are owned and operated by Aldi SUD. Aldi NORD, which owns and operates Trader Joe's, does not have the rights to open Aldi stores in the US.

This location used to house a Kmart that closed and was heavily remodeled into a Lucky/Sav-On, which then became an Albertson's, and has now been vacant for several years.

[pseudo3d]

Aldi stores are in cities without a Trader Joe's presence.

As was pointed out earlier, this is untrue. And now, for even more proof, Aldi is coming to Monrovia. Trader Joe's has a store in Monrovia, and its national HQ is located there as well -- just a few blocks from the new Aldi.

By the way, All Aldi US stores are owned and operated by Aldi SUD. Aldi NORD, which owns and operates Trader Joe's, does not have the rights to open Aldi stores in the US.

This location used to house a Kmart that closed and was heavily remodeled into a Lucky/Sav-On, which then became an Albertson's, and has now been vacant for several years.

I know that one, it actually closed about a month before they announced they would acquire Safeway (tinfoil hat theory is that they closed early to avoid divesting, but who really knows).