quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:
I don’t know how much of their stock goes nationwide, but if you find the Seedtastic bread it’s worth a try.

Best heavy natural bread I’ve ever eaten. Makes Orowheat Oatnut taste like Wonder Bread.

If it's available where you are, you might also try Dave's Killer Bread. I think it's really good, and in our area it comes in regular slices and thin slices. The thin slices are helpful because I'm pretty sure there's a lot more calories in a standard slice of DKB than, say, wonderbread. It's a staple at Chez Nina.

I'll second Nina's recommendation for Dave's Killer Bread. The thin sliced is really nice for sandwiches if you don't want your sandwiches to be mostly bread.

Big Al

quote:

Originally posted by wtg:

quote:

Originally posted by Cindysphinx:
How do they manage those prices and still pay a living wage?

Signs are up at the store that say their starting pay is $16 an hour, which is competitive with other grocery stores in the area.

Maybe because they cut costs in other ways? A while back I read about some of the ways they cut costs, like the shopping cart thing and the no bags... And the super bare bones interiors, small foot print... I don't remember the rest of the details but the other thing that comes to mind is maybe the number of staff? We don't shop there regularly, but there are always very few people working registers when we've been there.

This thread is reminding me that we should make it a point to go again soon!

I don’t know Aldi, but from reading this thread it sounds really similar to No Frills. They have been around since I was a kid and have always had a lot of those cost cutting measures that Shiro mentioned, including the carts that you need to put money into (ours are $1, but a while ago they did a promotion for these key chains in the shape of a loonie that you could use instead so that’s what we do now). The display cases are more bare bones (more like Costco, I guess). Their prices are always better than the other stores and the pay is the same as the others as well.

Bump

quote:

Originally posted by Cindysphinx:

How do they manage those prices and still pay a living wage?

From a couple of years ago, how Aldi is upending the grocery market.

https://www.cnn.com/interactiv...od-prices/index.html

I think minimum wage started in 1968. I wonder if it would be more or less than $16 an hour if it had been adjusted for inflation.

Edit- the purchasing power peaked in 1968.

"Minimum wage in the United States - Wikipedia" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...in_the_United_States

quote:

Originally posted by Cindysphinx:
How do they manage those prices and still pay a living wage?

Well, they don't.

Word is they will be opening one soon near me, so I will get to find out all about it.

https://www.tasteofhome.com/co...ceries-are-so-cheap/

We'll get fresh fruit & veg, bread, milk, fish & meat, but avoid nearly everything else, especially their processed foods e.g. pizza...yuk
Prefer Lidl.

But neither have the range of a Supermarket. In the UK, ASDA is probably best all round.

I posted a story here about Lidl some years back. I hadn't checked recently to see if they've expanded in the US. Turns out they have, but the stores are still all located on the east coast; the closest one is in Pennsylvania. Hopefully they'll open in the Midwest in the not too distant future.

I’ve started shopping at ALDIs once per week to pick up staple items. If they have something the price is likely half of what of what it would be in other stores - even Walmart. I’ve done side by side comparisons of several of their offerings with national brands and there is usually little difference. There are exceptions - the Worcestershire sauce is awful - but most of what they stock is very good.

They seem to have trouble keeping the shelves stocked and are often out of things. Hard to say if this is a supply chain issue or if they stock things in limited quantities each day to cut costs. I’ll have to try shopping earlier in the day to see what they have.

The article points out that they market to upscale shoppers and it shows - lots of non-gmo, gluten free and organic products and quality produce. Even at the store on the poor side of town the cars are new-ish and the customers are reasonably well dressed. The 50 year old, beat up grocery store across the street seems to draw more lower income folks even though the prices there are among the highest in the county. I’d love to know the psychology behind that.

Aldis doesn't have everything so sometimes a second store is required. I've had trouble finding one I like - they're either really expensive (Whole Foods) or depressingly run down.

Stumbled on this fairly new Giant Eagle store one town over and I'm hooked! The local GE is pretty well hammered but this new one is beautiful! Middling prices, very well stocked.



I am irrationally pleased to have found it.

I converted a long time ago. I’ve been shopping at this store for decades now. It’s a good stock up store. Aldi’s prices are lower than most other chain grocery stores. How do they do it? From what I’ve observed, here are some of the ways for anyone who’s never been to the store:

1. By its high volume sales of food and other merchandise, Aldi’s can get lower wholesale prices from its suppliers and then pass the savings onto consumers. Their prices are lower than most other chain grocery stores. But don’t take my word for it, check it yourself. Before Aldi’s installed electronic scanners, cashiers had to memorize the price of each item sold in the store. On Saturdays, their busiest day, check-out lines would stretch all the way to the back of the store. The best thing they ever did was to install the scanners. This was a long time ago.

2. It’s BYOB at Aldi’s. It stands for “Bring Your Own Bag”, not Beer. Customers have to either bring their own bag with them or buy a bag and then bag everything themselves. This way, Aldi’s doesn’t have to pay someone to do the bagging. Bagging is done in a separate area and not in the cashier’s output hopper which would slow down the checkout line.

3. Aldi’s is modeled after the set-up of military post commissaries. A commissary limits the variety of each item. For example, if you go to a typical chain supermarket, you’ll find a dozen different brands and sizes of mayonnaise. At Aldi’s and commissaries, there are only one or two different mayonnaise choices in a given brand and size. But it’s enough unless you like the more esoteric mayonnaise brands. In which case, you have to buy it somewhere else. Aldi’s stores are smaller in physical size than most chain supermarkets but they’re larger than 7-Elevens. This is another reason they have to limit the variety of items; they don’t have the physical space. Many Aldi’s located near me have expanded the size of the stores in recent years but they’re still smaller than say, a Jewell supermarket.

4. There are many items that Aldi’s doesn’t carry and I have to go to another store to buy them. For example, Aldi’s doesn’t carry scouring powder such as Ajax and Comet. They also used to carry canned oysters but it’s been discontinued. Aldi’s is pretty quick to discontinue anything that doesn’t sell well.

I learned a new ALDIs trick today.

Get your boxes last. Send them down the conveyor first. The checker will put the boxes in the bottom of the cart first and then fill them up.

No self bagging!

Shopped at ALDIs today and the place was fully stocked!

The internet says all stores are stocked on Wednesdays - this one certainly was. Other locations may be different.

I also learned that many products have bar codes printed on the package in several places to make checkout go more quickly. Brilliant!