West Aldi to open 45 stores in Southern California

[Amy SF]

Discount grocer Aldi to open 45 stores in Southland - LA Times

The stores are expected to begin opening in March 2016. I'm curious to know what those of you who have shopped in their stores think about them. Good experiences? Bad experiences? Do they have veg*an items that you like? Do they have much in the way of veg*an items at all?

 

[Poppy]

One just opened here and a few more are opening over the next couple of months. I haven't been yet. You have to rent carts and bring your own bags or else they charge!

 

[PTree15]

I'm not a regular shopper there, but they do have good deals on certain foods like canned goods and crunchy snacks. My mom loves it. She has one right down the road and gets mostly dry goods there. I think they have good deals on pasta, too. I like the idea of bringing your own bags because it seems more environmentally conscious. The rental carts cost only a quarter, and you get your quarter back when you return the cart. I suppose it saves on labor costs, as you don't have to pay someone to collect the carts from the parking lot.

 

[shyvas]

One just opened here and a few more are opening over the next couple of months. I haven't been yet. You have to rent carts and bring your own bags or else they charge!

Same thing over here.

 

[Calliegirl]

There's going to be one near me, I'll check it out when it opens.

There was a store in the past that did the quarter cart rental thing and it didn't work out so well. You rarely got your quarter back, and there were always groups of people (adults and kids) waiting at the door who would follow you to your car asking to take your cart so they could get the money. People quickly stopped shopping there because of being followed, myself included. Hopefully Aldi's doesn't have that problem.

 

[Mischief]

There's going to be one near me, I'll check it out when it opens.

There was a store in the past that did the quarter cart rental thing and it didn't work out so well. You rarely got your quarter back, and there were always groups of people (adults and kids) waiting at the door who would follow you to your car asking to take your cart so they could get the money. People quickly stopped shopping there because of being followed, myself included. Hopefully Aldi's doesn't have that problem.

It's never been a problem here.

I save a substantial amount of money by shopping at Aldi.

They don't have a veg*n section as such, but many of their products are "accidentally" vegan, like their snack packs of fruit gels. They also have periodic special buys of Boca and other vegan products.

 

[shyvas]

There's going to be one near me, I'll check it out when it opens.

There was a store in the past that did the quarter cart rental thing and it didn't work out so well. You rarely got your quarter back, and there were always groups of people (adults and kids) waiting at the door who would follow you to your car asking to take your cart so they could get the money. People quickly stopped shopping there because of being followed, myself included. Hopefully Aldi's doesn't have that problem.

Most people have plastic coins over here as it is customary to take the trolley back once you've done your shopping.

 

[shyvas]

It's never been a problem here.

I save a substantial amount of money by shopping at Aldi.

They don't have a veg*n section as such, but many of their products are "accidentally" vegan, like their snack packs of fruit gels. They also have periodic special buys of Boca and other vegan products.

I went to Aldi's the other day to see what kind of food was available. The stores over here don't have any meatless burgers. I only found some organic apple juice, organic infusion and chocolate. Lidl's has far more choice ( vegetables, fruit, nuts,oil and chocolate) and I have a branch in my neighbourhood. So, no more Aldi for me.

The 99 cent stores ( in the US) have a wider selection of food which is much cheaper than Aldi's.

 

[Andy_T]

There was a store in the past that did the quarter cart rental thing and it didn't work out so well. You rarely got your quarter back, and there were always groups of people (adults and kids) waiting at the door who would follow you to your car asking to take your cart so they could get the money. People quickly stopped shopping there because of being followed, myself included. Hopefully Aldi's doesn't have that problem.

Interesting. The rental of carts is basically the rule in most countries of Europe that I have visited, and I guess they do it in order to avoid theft of carts, as fewer carts tend to be "floating around" the parking lot.

 

[Calliegirl]

I saw the one being built near here, about 15 minutes away in a large shopping center. I plan to check it out when it opens.

 

[Mischief]

I went to Aldi's the other day to see what kind of food was available. The stores over here don't have any meatless burgers. I only found some organic apple juice, organic infusion and chocolate. Lidl's has far more choice ( vegetables, fruit, nuts,oil and chocolate) and I have a branch in my neighbourhood. So, no more Aldi for me.

The 99 cent stores ( in the US) have a wider selection of food which is much cheaper than Aldi's.

As I said in my post, the meatless burgers are available periodically, not all the time. We just stock up when they are available.

I shop at the dollar stores too, but haven't shared your experience of finding a large selection of veg*n foods at prices preferable to Aldi. One has to be alert to size differences when shopping at the dollar stores. For example, the dollar store's hydrogen peroxide is about 2/3 the size of the hydrogen peroxide bottle at Walmart, which sells for 88 cents.

 

[Amy SF]

I haven't seen any indications here in Santa Monica about an Aldi opening up and there's nothing on their website about specific locations opening soon. There's just an announcement saying Aldi is coming to California. A search of nearby locations turns up only a few in Texas. I'll just have to be patient and wait. I'm sure once the stores start opening there will be some mention of it in the LA Times.

Oh, and I have no problem bringing in my own bags; I've been doing that for years, even before local and state bans on single-use plastic bags were enacted. I also remember that way back in the late eighties when I was living in Palms in my first apartment, the local Ralphs supermarket had a shopping cart rental system. They got rid of it after I moved out of the area. I suspect customers at Aldi will grumble about paying for a shopping cart even after people remind them that they can get their quarter back. People just like to complain, I guess.

 

[Mischief]

suspect customers at Aldi will grumble about paying for a shopping cart even after people remind them that they can get their quarter back. People just like to complain, I guess.

I suspect it may vary from area to area, People here in the Midwest tend to be courteous. Most times, by the time I've loaded my groceries into the car, someone who's just arrived offers to take my cart and gives me a quarter, so I don't even have to take the cart back up to the store. I do likewise when I arrive, and a lot of the time the departing shopper won't even take my quarter (I suspect that has something to do with my gray hair). I then pass the cart on, minus the quarter, when I leave.

 

[Poppy]

I finally went to the Aldi closest to me. It's a weird little store! I didn't recognize many of the brands (except for candy) and the options in each food category were extremely limited. They did have some vegetarian and vegan options.

I'm really busy, and I don't have the time or the desire to make food shopping a major life event. I'd honestly rather just buy everything I need in one stop, even if it means I pay a little more in the long run. So I won't be visiting Aldi very often, as it's out of my way, and it didn't seem to have items I couldn't find elsewhere.

 

[Andy_T]

I finally went to the Aldi closest to me. It's a weird little store! I didn't recognize many of the brands (except for candy) and the options in each food category were extremely limited.

They typically have brand manufacturers make their own "private" brands for them, so they can sell the same product at a lower price without creating price pressure on the original brand. They can do that because they have a huge demand, offering not many different brands of the same product, but only one, at a competitive price. Having about 10,000 shops worldwide also helps to put some pressure on suppliers.

Aldi has more or less revolutionized retail by creating the then new concept of "food discount store" in the 50's and 60's.

With that, they have been quite successful, the brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht (owners of Aldi-North and Aldi-South) are #2 and #4 on the list of the 10 most wealthiest Germans.

 

[shyvas]

They typically have brand manufacturers make their own "private" brands for them, so they can sell the same product at a lower price without creating price pressure on the original brand. They can do that because they have a huge demand, offering not many different brands of the same product, but only one, at a competitive price. Having about 10,000 shops worldwide also helps to put some pressure on suppliers.

Aldi has more or less revolutionized retail by creating the then new concept of "food discount store" in the 50's and 60's.

With that, they have been quite successful, the brothers Karl and Theo Albrecht (owners of Aldi-North and Aldi-South) are #2 and #4 on the list of the 10 most wealthiest Germans.

Yes, that is why Aldi and lidl have cheaper food because they don't sell the classic brands. There is also very little choice and they often use the carton pack to display their goods. No fancy frills at their stores.

I saw a documentary about German discount stores and the food over there is even cheaper than in France. Lots of French people who live near the border go and do their weekly/monthly shopping in Germany.

 

[Calliegirl]

I haven't seen any indications here in Santa Monica about an Aldi opening up and there's nothing on their website about specific locations opening soon. There's just an announcement saying Aldi is coming to California. A search of nearby locations turns up only a few in Texas. I'll just have to be patient and wait. I'm sure once the stores start opening there will be some mention of it in the LA Times.

The only reason I knew one was opening here was because a couple of months ago they put announcements in the local FB groups that they were having a 2 day hiring event for the new store.

 

[shyvas]

ALDI US - Shopping at ALDI

 

[Amy SF]

I just did a check of their locations and grand openings on their website, and there are now some locations listed for California, but none of them anywhere close to me. Oh, well.

Beaumont

Fontana

La Quinta

Lake Elsinore

Moreno Valley

Palm Springs

San Bernardino

Yucaipa

 

[Calliegirl]

Darn, the grand opening is on a day I don't have free.