pseudo3d wrote: ↑March 13th, 2024, 9:40 am
They never seemed to take off in Texas (only a handful of stores in the Texas Triangle, plus some new-builds in Houston and Dallas). They aren't busy and rarely have more than one checkstand open. I'm sure they still turn a profit but they sure haven't been enthusiastic on TX expansion and not hard to see why.
There are 127 stores in Texas only behind OH, NY, FL and IL. Almost 70 of those are in D/FW. They aren't in the triangle because not much else is either, except right along the I35 corridor and Bryan/College Station. There are also a handful in East and West Texas, and about 40 in and around Houston. I know they don't appear busy, but they are selling a lot out of those tiny stores. I know they just started in Louisiana, and I don't find them better priced than what we have here, but they do have a following.
My impression is the "savings" at Aldi, are not what they once were, compared to other stores. I am not sure if other stores have gotten better at price, or Aldi is doing something different than in the past.
jamcool wrote: ↑March 13th, 2024, 9:40 am
What goes in the Midwest (or Germany ) often doesn’t do well in the South, especially not having access to certain brands/foods that Aldi won’t stock (No Duke’s mayo? No Blue Bell ice cream?)
I don't know about other areas, but at least here in the Northeast, I see a few regional items stocked, so they definitely can if they want to. Where I am for example, they sell Hatfield (a big regional meat processor) Pork Roll.
Maybe it's more to do with different items, not brands?
For instance, the two that jamcool mentions are items they already would have (mayo and ice cream), just a different brand (likely their own).
On the other side, what you mention (Pork Roll) may not be something that they would have at all, since it's not as well known outside a small area of the country - thus, they would be more likely to bring in a branded item to only those stores in the areas that it is more popular?
In Missouri, they sell a handful of local brands. They have for years. They even have some local microbrews. To be honest though, no one goes there for that. They go there because their store brand products are just as good or better than the name brand.
I have concerns about them carrying more name brand items and also here a few years ago they started allowing credit cards as payments, whereas in the past you could only use a debit card. I know that cost has to be passed along to customers; I would have rather had them stay debit-only to keep the price down.
So yes, they're cheaper, but I feel like in all honesty they arent that much cheaper than Sam's, Walmart or even Kroger most times. Not as much as they used to be. As a kid, every old person shopped there and every fundraiser event, you always got your buns, chips, all bulk items from Aldi.
That is my impression. The first time I went into one of these decades ago I was blown away by how cheap everything was. Compared to other stores it almost felt like free food. And the quality was above average for generics. The store was orderly and spartan.
NOW- the price gap between them and other stores especially Kroger does not seem as wide. The quality of their generics does not appear to necessarily be better than numerous other operators who have improved their generics in recent decades. The stores are cluttered up.
Again it feels like they talk a good talk. They're trying to via marketing establish a cult following similar to Costco or Target.
storewanderer wrote: ↑March 14th, 2024, 6:36 pm
That is my impression. The first time I went into one of these decades ago I was blown away by how cheap everything was. Compared to other stores it almost felt like free food. And the quality was above average for generics. The store was orderly and spartan.
NOW- the price gap between them and other stores especially Kroger does not seem as wide. The quality of their generics does not appear to necessarily be better than numerous other operators who have improved their generics in recent decades. The stores are cluttered up.
Again it feels like they talk a good talk. They're trying to via marketing establish a cult following similar to Costco or Target.
They do have a cult following in Chicago (per friends who live or have lived there).
storewanderer wrote: ↑March 14th, 2024, 6:36 pm
That is my impression. The first time I went into one of these decades ago I was blown away by how cheap everything was. Compared to other stores it almost felt like free food. And the quality was above average for generics. The store was orderly and spartan.
NOW- the price gap between them and other stores especially Kroger does not seem as wide. The quality of their generics does not appear to necessarily be better than numerous other operators who have improved their generics in recent decades. The stores are cluttered up.
Again it feels like they talk a good talk. They're trying to via marketing establish a cult following similar to Costco or Target.
They do have a cult following in Chicago (per friends who live or have lived there).
Very much a cult following throughout Illinois. I remember when my grandmother still lived there and they got one up the road from her. She tried it once. Said it only had off brands and at the time, no meat. She stuck with her IGA.
storewanderer wrote: ↑March 14th, 2024, 6:36 pm
That is my impression. The first time I went into one of these decades ago I was blown away by how cheap everything was. Compared to other stores it almost felt like free food. And the quality was above average for generics. The store was orderly and spartan.
NOW- the price gap between them and other stores especially Kroger does not seem as wide. The quality of their generics does not appear to necessarily be better than numerous other operators who have improved their generics in recent decades. The stores are cluttered up.
Again it feels like they talk a good talk. They're trying to via marketing establish a cult following similar to Costco or Target.
They do have a cult following in Chicago (per friends who live or have lived there).
Very much a cult following throughout Illinois. I remember when my grandmother still lived there and they got one up the road from her. She tried it once. Said it only had off brands and at the time, no meat. She stuck with her IGA.
It's not just Illinois. They have a cult following worldwide, including in the US. Just look at the Aldi subreddit.
It is discontinued. You will see a new brand in the coming weeks. The new brand is called "Know and Love." It appears this was a decision made just before Aldi took over, so who knows if they will actually go through with this or not.
It seems like it would make more sense to just slot comparable Aldi products...
While shopping at my local Winn-DIxie yesterday I saw my first Know & Love item - it was almond milk. Though there were some other Know & Love products in the week's circular, I didn't notice any. The packaging was not bad; very simple green with white lettering.
There were two odd things about the item:
Placement: it was in the top right corner of the milk case behind the door hinge area - not a place that would catch your eye at all.
Quantity: there were only two cartons of the K &L almond milk there and both of them were to expire - the next day.
One would think that if you were introducing a new line it would be well stocked, fresh and placed prominently.
Bakeragr wrote: ↑March 14th, 2024, 11:43 am
I have concerns about them carrying more name brand items and also here a few years ago they started allowing credit cards as payments, whereas in the past you could only use a debit card. I know that cost has to be passed along to customers; I would have rather had them stay debit-only to keep the price down.
So yes, they're cheaper, but I feel like in all honesty they arent that much cheaper than Sam's, Walmart or even Kroger most times. Not as much as they used to be. As a kid, every old person shopped there and every fundraiser event, you always got your buns, chips, all bulk items from Aldi.
Along with this, I also think they are growing way too fast to the point where they can't keep up with themselves and distribution. Going into a location and seeing it sparsely stocked in certain areas, or items completely out of stock seems more common lately. The Aldi Finds/seasonal aisles have been a mess.
There was a post I saw on Reddit the other day calling out Aldi ice cream as having big ingredient changes with more cheap fillers added in, and of course with the price staying the same. It's a bit disappointing for a company that was once striving towards selling less processed items. In other cases, packaging sizes have shrunk which is a bit more noticeable as Aldi only has sold most food items in one size for years now.
They are still my first stop for groceries, but I can no longer have the mindset that every item is the best deal.
