ALDI to add 70 new stores by next year

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Re: ALDI to add 70 new stores by next year

Post by storewanderer »

Romr123 wrote: May 31st, 2022, 5:20 am We shopped a fair bit at the Palm Springs location (Ramon/Gene Autry) all winter and it was broadly comparable to any second-ring suburban location of the same vintage (built within the last 5 years) near us in Detroit...about 95% of the SKUs were seemingly the same...perhaps a bit more general merchandise, perhaps slightly slower moving in California, but I suspect it may be nothing more than being merchandised from Batavia, IL rather than closer to California.

They do seem to have a base Hispanic food assortment at that location (which we rarely see around Detroit, but I imagine is all over south side Chicago or in rural western Michigan) and a few more pre-made grab and go sandwiches in the refrigerator case (which need to be sourced closer to the region anyway) but that location doesn't strike me as being deficient in any way (other than parking lot layout which is a pain in the a@@ but that's certainly not their fault).
Interesting. I wonder if I just had bad luck. I kept quiet the first couple times but after a couple more bad visits I decided to make an observation.

Based on what I am seeing I am not even convinced Aldi will survive in California. They really need some more strict management and oversight over their stores. The folks they are hiring remind me of people Wal Mart fired (almost impossible to get fired from Wal Mart). And I make that statement in terms of the miserable attitude and efficiency (or lack thereof) of these employees. Nothing close to the efficient focused attitude of Aldi employees in the midwest. Also, poor attitude compared to other retailers in SoCal as well.
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Re: ALDI to add 70 new stores by next year

Post by mjhale »

I am on the east coast and have seen the same sort of operations in Aldi stores around here. For me the change in Aldi happened when they started to remodel their stores from the old pre-2010s interior to the newer more upscale interior. In this area these remodels coincided with Aldi starting to build a lot more stores and moving into more upscale areas that might not have been their "typical" demographic in the past. At least for staple type items Aldi still had significantly lower prices than even Walmart. However somewhere over the past year or so Aldi has really ramped up the amount of non-food items they are carrying as special buys. As others have noted they don't sell well and just sit around taking up space. Markdowns of any sort on hand written tags don't come up in the register. Between the fact that there is a big line and the indifference of the cashier you don't really feel like fighting it. I will say that when the lines are moving, they move quickly. Even with one register open if there aren't any problems you can get out pretty quickly. Where I've started not to go to Aldi as much is over pricing. It seems that Walmart has been more judicious about price increases. They have had them but it seems like they are keeping them down if possible. Aldi, on the other hand, has just been raising prices at what seems like a breakneck speed. 50 cents, 75 cents, a dollar at a time. I'm in a very competitive grocery market so everyone is aware of what others are doing. Aldi and Walmart are within 25 cents or so of each other on the majority of the items I would possibly get at Aldi. Unless there is a specific product I like better at Aldi, I'll go to Walmart because they have a full selection. Or I will hit the sales at Giant-MD and stock up. We do have Lidl around here too. Unfortunately, I have found them to be completely underwhelming with no reason to go back on a regular basis. I was looking forward to Aldi and Lidl going at it with each other. It didn't happen. Lidl is just there for me. Don't go there at all.
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Re: ALDI to add 70 new stores by next year

Post by HCal »

I get the feeling that Aldi's value proposition is simply to have the lowest prices. The people who shop at Aldi, at least in California, are the most price-sensitive and are willing to put up with limited selection, long lines, and rushed service. They seem to have a small but loyal following, almost like the Trader Joe's cult.

I'm still trying to figure out their focus on general merchandise. In their weekly flyer that is mailed out, 50% of the space is devoted to non-food items. I hardly see anyone buying them, despite prices being quite competitive. Perhaps the limited selection makes it unlikely that people will check Aldi first for these things. I know that supermarkets in Europe have more general merchandise, so perhaps they are trying to replicate that in the US.
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Re: ALDI to add 70 new stores by next year

Post by storewanderer »

HCal wrote: June 1st, 2022, 9:53 pm I get the feeling that Aldi's value proposition is simply to have the lowest prices. The people who shop at Aldi, at least in California, are the most price-sensitive and are willing to put up with limited selection, long lines, and rushed service. They seem to have a small but loyal following, almost like the Trader Joe's cult.

I'm still trying to figure out their focus on general merchandise. In their weekly flyer that is mailed out, 50% of the space is devoted to non-food items. I hardly see anyone buying them, despite prices being quite competitive. Perhaps the limited selection makes it unlikely that people will check Aldi first for these things. I know that supermarkets in Europe have more general merchandise, so perhaps they are trying to replicate that in the US.
I don't think they exactly have the lowest prices in CA though, so I am not sure what their value proposition in CA is. Are they cheaper than Vons? Yes, sometimes, but if you can find what you need on a decent sale at Vons then maybe they aren't even cheaper.

Also I think Grocery Outlet will provide them some pretty significant competition in CA if they get well operated Grocery Outlets competing against them (but even the worst Grocery Outlets are not really much worse than these CA Aldis I've been to are).

Trader Joe's has a following because they have a great product mix, fair prices, and excellent customer service. There are many reasons to shop there.
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Re: ALDI to add 70 new stores by next year

Post by HCal »

storewanderer wrote: June 1st, 2022, 11:51 pm
HCal wrote: June 1st, 2022, 9:53 pm I get the feeling that Aldi's value proposition is simply to have the lowest prices. The people who shop at Aldi, at least in California, are the most price-sensitive and are willing to put up with limited selection, long lines, and rushed service. They seem to have a small but loyal following, almost like the Trader Joe's cult.

I'm still trying to figure out their focus on general merchandise. In their weekly flyer that is mailed out, 50% of the space is devoted to non-food items. I hardly see anyone buying them, despite prices being quite competitive. Perhaps the limited selection makes it unlikely that people will check Aldi first for these things. I know that supermarkets in Europe have more general merchandise, so perhaps they are trying to replicate that in the US.
I don't think they exactly have the lowest prices in CA though, so I am not sure what their value proposition in CA is. Are they cheaper than Vons? Yes, sometimes, but if you can find what you need on a decent sale at Vons then maybe they aren't even cheaper.

Also I think Grocery Outlet will provide them some pretty significant competition in CA if they get well operated Grocery Outlets competing against them (but even the worst Grocery Outlets are not really much worse than these CA Aldis I've been to are).

Trader Joe's has a following because they have a great product mix, fair prices, and excellent customer service. There are many reasons to shop there.
I think that for an entire basket of goods, Aldi has the lowest or almost the lowest prices in SoCal. Stores like Vons might be cheaper on specific items that are on sale, but they then overcharge on other items. Grocery Outlet is the only chain that I would consider to provide true price competition to Aldi. Winco is another one, but it has very few locations.
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Re: ALDI to add 70 new stores by next year

Post by Romr123 »

I think you west-coasters don't quite understand how cookie-cutter Aldi is worldwide...you walk into a location anywhere in the world and it's identical (down to the weird-ass cash registers with the pop-up cash drawer). The general merchandise is identical, from the identical plants...and better warranted (quite a good place for esoteric small appliances like egg cookers and electric kettles) than anything you'll find at any comparable store. They routed Walmart from Germany, for heavens' sake. Customization is just -not- in their wheelhouse. It may take awhile, but they've been doing this for nearly 50 years in the Midwest (bought Benner Tea in Iowa in the mid-70s). They're built on the in-and-out nature of their non-core offerings (look--this week it's German Week...45 SKUs in; 45 SKUs of the two-week-ago Italian Week out. In two weeks, it's Easter--45 in, 45 out. Their general merchandise is similar.
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Re: ALDI to add 70 new stores by next year

Post by buckguy »

Aldi has a niche--they know what it is, but it's not outwardly all that apparent otherwise. I never find much that's attractive there but I'm a long-time cherry picker, so I can usually wait and find a good deal at Giant or, occasionally, Safeway. They're quirkier than Sav-alot and much smaller than a lot of discount operations, so you can't really compare them to other cheapies. That's probably why they build out slowly in new areas--they look for their people. Trader Joe's is analogous in that does well at very different ends of the market--students, young singles/couples and retirees, to whom no one explicitly caters. Southern California had more non-conventional super market sources of food earlier than most other places---I noticed it because I was there for a few months at the tail end of the 2004 strike and rather than crossing a picket line, I found lots of other places to shop. Aldi will find its niche there--they've managed to keep it as shopping has become more varied elsewhere.

I don't see any Aldi's in upscale areas of DC. They have some Arlington and Alexandria stores which are in areas with some upscale enclaves, but no stores in McLean, Bethesda or Upper NW DC, let a lone Potomac or horsey parts of northern Virginia. They'd be a natural for the places where Safeway has had trouble with getting large new builds constructed in DC because those have an older demographic that would get the value they offer.
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Re: ALDI to add 70 new stores by next year

Post by CalItalian »

storewanderer wrote: June 1st, 2022, 11:51 pm
HCal wrote: June 1st, 2022, 9:53 pm I get the feeling that Aldi's value proposition is simply to have the lowest prices. The people who shop at Aldi, at least in California, are the most price-sensitive and are willing to put up with limited selection, long lines, and rushed service. They seem to have a small but loyal following, almost like the Trader Joe's cult.

I'm still trying to figure out their focus on general merchandise. In their weekly flyer that is mailed out, 50% of the space is devoted to non-food items. I hardly see anyone buying them, despite prices being quite competitive. Perhaps the limited selection makes it unlikely that people will check Aldi first for these things. I know that supermarkets in Europe have more general merchandise, so perhaps they are trying to replicate that in the US.
I don't think they exactly have the lowest prices in CA though, so I am not sure what their value proposition in CA is. Are they cheaper than Vons? Yes, sometimes, but if you can find what you need on a decent sale at Vons then maybe they aren't even cheaper.

Also I think Grocery Outlet will provide them some pretty significant competition in CA if they get well operated Grocery Outlets competing against them (but even the worst Grocery Outlets are not really much worse than these CA Aldis I've been to are).

Trader Joe's has a following because they have a great product mix, fair prices, and excellent customer service. There are many reasons to shop there.
Aldi is thriving in the Inland Empire. They are very busy. In my area, we have multiple Aldi and Grocery Outlet locations and Aldi is much busier. I find many items that no other store gets even close to on price include Winco, Grocery Outlet and Walmart.
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Re: ALDI to add 70 new stores by next year

Post by CalItalian »

HCal wrote: June 1st, 2022, 9:53 pm I get the feeling that Aldi's value proposition is simply to have the lowest prices. The people who shop at Aldi, at least in California, are the most price-sensitive and are willing to put up with limited selection, long lines, and rushed service. They seem to have a small but loyal following, almost like the Trader Joe's cult.

I'm still trying to figure out their focus on general merchandise. In their weekly flyer that is mailed out, 50% of the space is devoted to non-food items. I hardly see anyone buying them, despite prices being quite competitive. Perhaps the limited selection makes it unlikely that people will check Aldi first for these things. I know that supermarkets in Europe have more general merchandise, so perhaps they are trying to replicate that in the US.
I've seen the same customers in Ralphs or Super Target which are in Aldi in my city (all within a block or a few blocks). Rushed service is great. Aldi gets you in and out. Lately, they've had more cashiers at one time so that has relieved the lines.
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Re: ALDI to add 70 new stores by next year

Post by CalItalian »

storewanderer wrote: June 1st, 2022, 6:32 pm
Romr123 wrote: May 31st, 2022, 5:20 am We shopped a fair bit at the Palm Springs location (Ramon/Gene Autry) all winter and it was broadly comparable to any second-ring suburban location of the same vintage (built within the last 5 years) near us in Detroit...about 95% of the SKUs were seemingly the same...perhaps a bit more general merchandise, perhaps slightly slower moving in California, but I suspect it may be nothing more than being merchandised from Batavia, IL rather than closer to California.

They do seem to have a base Hispanic food assortment at that location (which we rarely see around Detroit, but I imagine is all over south side Chicago or in rural western Michigan) and a few more pre-made grab and go sandwiches in the refrigerator case (which need to be sourced closer to the region anyway) but that location doesn't strike me as being deficient in any way (other than parking lot layout which is a pain in the a@@ but that's certainly not their fault).
Interesting. I wonder if I just had bad luck. I kept quiet the first couple times but after a couple more bad visits I decided to make an observation.

Based on what I am seeing I am not even convinced Aldi will survive in California. They really need some more strict management and oversight over their stores. The folks they are hiring remind me of people Wal Mart fired (almost impossible to get fired from Wal Mart). And I make that statement in terms of the miserable attitude and efficiency (or lack thereof) of these employees. Nothing close to the efficient focused attitude of Aldi employees in the midwest. Also, poor attitude compared to other retailers in SoCal as well.
Have you really been in enough Aldi's multiple times to make your observations? Because I don't see what you are seeing AT ALL. The employees are ALWAYS friendly, helpful and work hard.

Not only do I see Aldi surviving in California, and they continue to build and open new stores, I believe they will be one of the top grocery retailers in this state one day.
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