Aldi

This store changed my perception of grocery shopping. Getting groceries used to result in a long slog through numerous isles while passing a large percentage of things I don’t need. Aldi isn’t like that; it’s compact, easy to navigate and has pretty much everything you need.
A little bit about Aldi first… It’s a German owned company. They also own Trader Joe’s. Think of Aldi like a Trader Joe’s, but a bit more bare bones. Their business model to run lean: They don’t have people collecting carts, they don’t provide you with disposable bags, they don’t sell a lot of name brand stuff, their stores tend to be on the smaller side, the shelves are usually stacked boxes and they only sell the most frequently bought items at your typical grocery store. There’s no deli counter, butcher or seafood counter; everything is prepacked.
Just about everything in this store is a «house» brand. But let’s face it, it’s all made by the bigger companies; just labeled differently. Everything I’ve tried in this store tastes exactly like the name brand. The boxes/​packages even look similar in most cases. You save a ton of money buying the off brands; we’ve cut our grocery bill in half after shopping here for about 4 months.
Before you go:
Bring reusable bags
Be ready to bag your own groceries after checkout
Bring cash or a debit card; no credit cards (Credit cards charge a fee at the terminal)
Bring a quarter so you can use a shopping cart (It’s refunded when you return it)
One of the nice things about this store is it’s very easy to get around. It’s laid out so you can move around quickly while getting what you need. At most, I’ve seen maybe three employees working here. They’ve all been friendly and helpful. Even with a few people ahead of us, checking out has been efficient. You unload your cart, they scan everything, reload it and then you head over the bagging area and pack it up.
If I could nitpick one thing: The hours. They don’t open until 10AM on Sunday. I’m sure they did their homework and found the peak hours of shopping. However, if you want to get out early and get your shopping done, you’ll have to wait.
Overall, this is a great store. It makes shopping easy, fast and you’re going to save quite a bit over the other establishments.

OK, here is another take, I HATE having to put back other peoples carts that end up banging into cars! I keep a quarter in my car just for Aldi’s. My experience with their off store brands is different. I love organinc and have gotten some of the best organinc frozen srawberry’s ever. The fairtrade coffee was great. The Chocolate covered butter biscuits I took home were yummy and it was real chocolate. I have tried Spanish and New Zealand wines that fool my wine loving friends into thinking I spent bucks for the bottle. Their «special» buys have saved me tons. I am picky when I shop, but I know what I like and I find it at Aldi’s over and over again. Bottom line, if you are careful and don’t mind the warehouse feel, you just might become a real fan like I am!
I have not stepped foot in a supermarket since Aldi’s opened I get everything I need at Aldi’s. I personally am blown away by what I have been saving… Mind you, we grow our own seasonal veggies, raise our own meat and fill three freezers during the winter. But, when I could buy fresh cabbage at 29 cents a head that was as good as our home grown, and get organic milk for a buck cheaper then the competition, it’s hard to go elswhere. Lastly, their workers are paid well. The only glitch, is that their hours are determined by how busy the store is… So I go often and frankly love the many pleasant surprises.

ALDI’s is based upon a low overhead/​no frills = low cost business model; the key to making this work is to deliver quality products coupled with reasonable service. To this end, ALDI delivers! for 4 of our 5 visits I was pleasantly shocked as to how much food we purchased for 40−50% less than other local retailers. And while there have been a few disappointing products (not a fan of their deli meats) there were many, many more pleasant surpirses (chicken salad rocks).
we still supplement our food purchases with a stop at price chopper or market basket, but overall very pleased with trader joe’s sibling.

We got a flyer in the mailbox, and thought we’d check it out. Hoo boy.
First, you need to have a quarter if you want a shopping cart. Really. You stick it in the handle and it releases the cart, and when you return the cart and plug it back in you get the quarter back. Don’t have a quarter with you? SOL, sucker. We were lucky enough to have a guy come out who didn’t mind giving up his quarter so the mister and our two kids and I could use a cart.
Secondly, virtually everything is store brand. I don’t mind store brands, I LIKE store brands, as long as they’re quality. These are not quality. Chocolate sandwich cookies had no chocolate flavor, more like a bland coconut gingersnap flavor but not in a good way. The mister got a couple different kinds of sausages and both were really, really bad – way too sweet, odd/​wrong seasonings, and he got bone chips. Not gristle, but sharp little BONE CHIPS. Yeah, no.
Thirdly, one check out lane was open, and the rest were blocked, making it a long way around to the bathroom with toddlers. I ended up going out the exit and back through the entrance before I noticed one very small open path at the main doors where someone could slide through between flyer stands, though it was hard to see from the bathroom side.
Fourthly, no credit cards. Cash or debit card only. Even McDonalds takes credit cards now. What the hell.
Fifthly, if you want grocery bags, you pay eleven cents each, in case you want to pretend that you live in San Francisco. Also, everything is bag your own, which frankly I prefer to do myself anyway, but heads up. Take your own bags, fine, but we had no warning. We had some grocery bags in the truck so after the sullen check out lady tossed our purchases willy-​nilly into another cart (requiring us to move said kids as well, SIGH) we at least didn’t have cans rolling around on the way home.
Sixthly, the prices were not any better than Market Basket or Hinsdale Walmart (which is just across a bridge from Brattleboro), and so Aldi does not have any draw for us.
But I like to be positive, so um, it was clean? Yes. It was clean. Hope that lasts.