
How a cheap, brutally efficient grocery chain is upending America's supermarkets - apo
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2019/05/business/aldi-walmart-low-food-prices/index.html
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esilver
A year ago I stopped going to Whole Foods and started buying packaged foods at
Trader Joe’s and produce at Berkeley Bowl. My food spending halved.

Trader Joe’s, Aldi, Lidl, and to a lesser-extent Costco, are revolutionizing
the grocery business in much the same that Walmart and the A&P did. Except
they sell high-quality store brands and offer _fewer_ , _better_ choices to
customers with less in-store cruft.

Americans spend a smaller proportion of their income on food now than they did
a generation ago; roughly 10% now compared to 17.5% in 1960 [0]. It’s exciting
to imagine that average falling to 5%.

And it’s even more exciting to imagine _other_ consumer spending categories
falling relative to income, e.g., transportation and housing.

[0]
[https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/03/02/389578089/yo...](https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/03/02/389578089/your-
grandparents-spent-more-of-their-money-on-food-than-you-do)

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akeck
Hey Aldi! Could you do us all a huge favor and make an accredited,
academically sound, university in the US, so we can afford to pay our way
through college again instead going into a 100k of debt?

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scarface74
If Aldi would move to places that don’t have a grocery store close by and get
rid of the organics - the whole idea of organics is just feel good marketing
anyway - to save even more, they could really make a killing where their only
competitors are Dollar Stores.

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notfromhere
I wonder how much Aldi's rise in America has to do with consumers facing steep
wage stagnation and less discretionary income.

20 years ago Aldi's were only in poor immigrant neighborhoods, now they're
everywhere.

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teh_klev
In the article, the section _" Cheap kombucha on the shelves, BMWs in the
parking lots"_ says:

 _For Aldi, part of its success lies in appealing not only to low or mid-
income shoppers, but to wealthier ones as well. Aldi’s core shopper tends to
make more money and have a slightly higher education level than the overall
grocery shopper, according to Bain. On a recent trip to an Aldi in Hackensack,
New Jersey, luxury vehicles, including a $50,000 Jaguar and an $80,000 Tesla
Model X, dotted the small parking lot alongside Toyotas, Fords and Hondas.
Walmart’s Foran has marveled that when he visited an Aldi in Australia, BMWs
and Mercedes were in the parking lot there, too._

I think they're just generally liked across right across a whole spectrum of
incomes.

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reallydude
Relevant?
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UFc1pr2yUU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UFc1pr2yUU)

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teh_klev
Ha ha...."$80's for my 6 items". Is it "Whole Salary" I believe Whole Foods
are jokingly called in the US?

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trevyn
“Whole Paycheck”, but yeah.

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myinnerbanjo
I recently moved to Canada from the US, and there's stores here that do the
coin-deposit for shopping carts--and have folks bag their own groceries. I
know the latter would save money, but the former makes sense, too--labor costs
are higher, there's liability, and honestly, having wayward carts about the
parking lot makes it look a bit unkempt. I bet there's folks who'd gladly pay
a quarter--or more--just to have a decent cart that hasn't been beaten by cars
and rain.

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savoytruffle
Is it still a quarter in Canada? Even if it is, they can look forward to using
loonies and toonies in the future while dollar coins never seem to take hold
in USA …

Surely a lot of people don't mind losing USD25¢ to toss the Aldi shopping card
in the ditch behind the parking lot?

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bandy
People here in Kansas City will gift their paid-for cart to someone else
rather than leaving it in the parking lot.

From what I've seen on YT, cart rental is a Euro in Europe.

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robodale
Yea...I have an Aldi just a stones-throw away from my house. I was mailed a
"grand opening" coupon for first time shoppers. I skeptically took the bait.
It was a sad, awkward experience.

Weird knockoff names for popular brands, especially their beer and wine. They
_look_ like popular brands, but If I'm going to put alcohol in my body, it
better be effing good.

I prefer to go to my regional grocery chain. Much better selection and
quality, marginally higher prices...but I don't care. I grab a cart. No hassle
and NO QUARTER (who the hell carries change?) I bring my own bags, but if I
forget I can use their paper or plastic ones (plus bring back the bags for
recycling if I want). I can also order online, pickup if I want or have them
deliver. That's what I want, not the shopping experience Aldi offers.

I get it. Millions of people disagree with me. This is my data point of one,
Me, but that's the only data point that matters to me.

As Travis Tritt said: "Here's a quarter, call someone who cares..."

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InitialLastName
> Weird knockoff names for popular brands,

These "knockoffs" are almost always from exactly the same factory as the
"popular brands". The product is identical, only the packaging is different.

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thinkingemote
Also when the packaging is the same, manufacturers will put different quality
stuff in it. Same ingredients but different quality so they can sell it
cheaper. Happens for many products although I don't know of it happens for
food.

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tentboy
I am a huge fan of Aldi, and it is my preffered grocery store when I actually
go in person.

However, I do my shopping at Walmart, who offers similar prices with online
order and free pickup. This convenience is worth the small price differences,
and I usually purchase the generic brands at Walmart which are very
competitively priced.

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Para2016
I've never been to an Aldi, but at this moment in my life I would have a hard
time switching from HEB/Central Market. Perhaps I would have liked it as a
student.

I'm not really a fan of copycat brand labeling though. If a product is going
to be plagiarized, I would hope they would produce original labeling. That
takes money though, and would affect their slim margins.

