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Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: Scout26 on May 18, 2019, 02:10:18 PM

Title: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: Scout26 on May 18, 2019, 02:10:18 PM
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2019/05/business/aldi-walmart-low-food-prices/index.html?utm_source=pocket-newtab

CNN crawls out from the shadow of the NYC Skyscrapers and finds that even rich people shop at Aldi.


Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: MillCreek on May 18, 2019, 03:34:23 PM
That was a really interesting article, and I wonder if Aldi or Lidl will make it to the PNW in my lifetime.  We were one of the last regions in the country to get WalMart, for example.
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: 230RN on May 18, 2019, 04:01:56 PM
"CNN crawls slithers out from the shadow of the NYC Skyscrapers..."

 +✓
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: lee n. field on May 18, 2019, 05:01:33 PM
Any more, I prefer shopping at our local Aldi.
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: WLJ on May 18, 2019, 05:13:50 PM
Nonsense. Everyone knows that between Enlightened NYC and Magic Dust Land LA there's only a waste land populated only by uneducated Neanderthals controlled by the Russians.
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: zxcvbob on May 18, 2019, 07:51:33 PM
Any more, I prefer shopping at our local Aldi.

I do almost all my shopping at Aldi.  They are far cheaper than anyplace else, and I can get in and out quickly.  I if I need something they don't have, I'll usually get that at HyVee plus whatever loss leaders HyVee has that week.  Walmart is a distant 3rd, but I shop there every once in a while.
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: AZRedhawk44 on May 18, 2019, 08:56:48 PM
Explain to us benighted flyovers what "Aldi" is, please.
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: Regolith on May 18, 2019, 09:08:34 PM
Explain to us benighted flyovers what "Aldi" is, please.

German Walmart
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: lee n. field on May 18, 2019, 09:30:22 PM
Explain to us benighted flyovers what "Aldi" is, please.

Cut rate grocery with mostly weird house brands.
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: Hawkmoon on May 18, 2019, 11:21:44 PM
German Walmart

I disagree.

I'll shop at Walmart Supercenters. My late wife and I tried an Aldi's once. We both agreed that the place was depressing beyond belief. Never again.

It's more like Dollar General than it is like Walmart.
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: Doggy Daddy on May 19, 2019, 01:00:37 AM
I disagree.

I'll shop at Walmart Supercenters. My late wife and I tried an Aldi's once. We both agreed that the place was depressing beyond belief. Never again.

It's more like Dollar General than it is like Walmart.

Pretty much every facial expression at https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2019/05/business/aldi-walmart-low-food-prices/index.html?utm_source=pocket-newtab (https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2019/05/business/aldi-walmart-low-food-prices/index.html?utm_source=pocket-newtab) is one of recently sucking lemons.
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: charby on May 19, 2019, 01:10:20 AM
Explain to us benighted flyovers what "Aldi" is, please.

Aldi first came to Iowa in 1976, so I am familiar with Aldi in my memory. I have seen Aldi change from a sketchy no frills discount grocery to a no frills Trader Joes kind of place. I buy my cheese, frozen seafood, crackers, snacks, and simple produce from there. Sometimes wine and beer. Crazy thing now, is I buy my eggs, milk and bananas from a gas station.

In college I bought all my groceries from Aldi, always a case of ramen and case of soup.
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: Perd Hapley on May 19, 2019, 01:47:15 AM
I have seen Aldi change from a sketchy no frills discount grocery to a no frills Trader Joes kind of place.

Same here, almost. I wouldn't say it's much like Trader Joe's, but Aldi has definitely improved from what they used to be in the 80s. They really were depressing in those days.

My wife has shopped for groceries at just about every kind of place, and Aldi is her favorite. If she needs something like duck fat, or crème fraîche, or turnips, she probably has to go elsewhere, but they actually have a lot of good stuff these days. Especially the Christmas cookies.
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: Jamisjockey on May 19, 2019, 07:33:27 AM
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2019/05/business/aldi-walmart-low-food-prices/index.html?utm_source=pocket-newtab

CNN crawls out from the shadow of the NYC Skyscrapers and finds that even rich people shop at Aldi.




Surrounded by old money farms all over the area.  Not uncommon to see Land Rovers used as farm trucks, and see them roll into wal mart, with old white women wearing riding pants out shopping for staples. 

That kind of *expletive deleted*it is why CNN isn't even clearing a million viewers.
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: Ron on May 19, 2019, 08:38:39 AM
Two Aldis near me. The first one in its original location was sort of shabby. It moved and was much nicer but still had a discount feel. Recently they did a remodel and it doesn’t have that dollar store vibe at all anymore.

The second is brand new. Very nice store and it is my “go to” Aldi as it’s more convenient.
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: Ben on May 19, 2019, 09:12:47 AM
I wish there was one near me.
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: p12 on May 19, 2019, 10:58:43 PM
Aldi is our main grocery store any more. Most of their house brands are better than name brands.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: Scout26 on May 20, 2019, 01:00:56 AM
Aldi has gone more Whole Foods then Trader Joe's, while still being everyone on price.   No more artificial ingredients or colorings. Everything is organic and natural.  Prices are still rock bottom, but quality is improved. 

The stores have been updated and upgraded so they are not dull, but brighter and colorful.   Selection, while still limited, has expanded beyond the 150+/- from a few years ago when cashiers had to memorize the prices of each item, to 1500 since they installed bar code readers.

I generally shop Aldi for the staples, and fill in from Mariano's ingredients they don't carry.


Hawkmoon, I would suggest maybe going back and checking out the "new" Aldi, and a lot has changed in the past 5 years with them.
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: TechMan on May 20, 2019, 12:37:43 PM
We start at Aldi's first and buy everything that we can on our list.  We then go to a Kroger down the way from us, to finish out the list.  This works very well.  There are occasional things that are "Finds" that we don't like but they are few and far between.


I also second Amy's suggestion for Hawkmoon.
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: brimic on May 20, 2019, 12:42:47 PM
I like Aldi's for their Naan bread (we use it for home made pizza) and imitation girl scout cookies.
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: TechMan on May 20, 2019, 01:57:08 PM
I like that I can get Kerry Gold butter (gold foil pack) for a decent price.  {Winking at Ben}
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: Ben on May 20, 2019, 02:01:09 PM
I like that I can get Kerry Gold butter (gold foil pack) for a decent price.  {Winking at Ben}

Lucky for me it's a Costco item ever since you got me hooked on it ya bastard.  =D
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: Brad Johnson on May 20, 2019, 02:25:40 PM
Lucky for me it's a Costco item ever since you got me hooked on it ya bastard.  =D

Our local Wal-Mart carries it now.

Brad
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: TechMan on May 20, 2019, 02:45:08 PM
Lucky for me it's a Costco item ever since you got me hooked on it ya bastard.  =D

Didn't know what you were missing in life.  You are welcome.   =D  That and the fresh baked "artisan" bread.  Man, I need make some this fall.
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: Ben on May 20, 2019, 02:57:36 PM
Didn't know what you were missing in life.  You are welcome.   =D  That and the fresh baked "artisan" bread.  Man, I need make some this fall.

I was making the bread pretty regularly before I moved, but haven't had a chance to here yet. I need to bake some so I can calibrate it to the oven here. Finally on gas again so I have to get used to it! :)
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: charby on May 20, 2019, 04:40:18 PM
Everything is organic and natural. 

Nope, I find a lot of non organic or HFCS containing items at my local Aldi's. Even the veggies will have some label organic and others not labeled. Same with stuff made with soy oil.
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: Andiron on May 20, 2019, 08:11:52 PM
Late,  but similar thoughts to the rest.  Aldi our go to,  and it's conveniently across from a Giant Eagle.  We get all the easy stuff at Aldi,  and fill in the blanks at GE.  And by blanks,  I mean liquor,  since it has a state store  >:D  And fresh veggies and stuff....
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: Perd Hapley on May 20, 2019, 10:31:58 PM
A recent article. My apologies if this has been posted already.

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2019/05/business/aldi-walmart-low-food-prices/index.html


And:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/597490789/3d-printed-aldi-quarter-keeper-for?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=Aldi+quarter+keeper&ref=sr_gallery-1-3&organic_search_click=1&frs=1&col=1
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: TechMan on May 21, 2019, 02:53:39 PM
We just had a Kroger Marketplace open up near us and it has a Bar in the store.
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: Pb on May 22, 2019, 10:00:01 AM
I love Aldi!  We just got one nearby.  They have improved.
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: MechAg94 on May 22, 2019, 10:41:15 AM
We had an Aldi open up here a couple years ago.  I had no idea what it was.  HEB is the grocery store I usually use.  I guess it is a more local chain that is generally well run with decent prices.  I will have to visit Aldi at some point.
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: zxcvbob on May 22, 2019, 12:04:39 PM
Even when Aldi first came here and was a depressing place that smelled funny, only took cash and EBT cards, and was mostly shopped by first gen Somali immigrants (that's fine, Somalis gotta eat too) I recognized the quality of their weird private brands.  The fresh produce wan't much, but they had pretty a good freezer section.  And very good European chocolates :D  So I shopped there mostly for canned goods, cereal, and dairy, and bought fresh meat and produce elsewhere.  They have gotten *much* better in recent year; even before they remodeled the stores they started selling more and better produce and meats, and a lot more prepackaged bakery items besides just tortillas and sliced bread.

Now the place looks a lot like Trader Joe's but less fancy.
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: Pb on May 23, 2019, 09:10:57 AM
We had an Aldi open up here a couple years ago.  I had no idea what it was.  HEB is the grocery store I usually use.  I guess it is a more local chain that is generally well run with decent prices.  I will have to visit Aldi at some point.

Don't forget your quarter!
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: MechAg94 on May 23, 2019, 09:46:40 AM
Don't forget your quarter!
The automated lottery ticket machine at HEB takes dollars. 
Title: Re: CNN ventures out beyond the beltway and the bouroughs and discovers....
Post by: Perd Hapley on May 23, 2019, 04:57:41 PM
The automated lottery ticket machine at HEB takes dollars. 


Quote
Rather than employ a team of runners to retrieve carts from the parking lot all day, Aldi expects its customers to return carts to the store after each shopping trip. It forces that behavior by charging customers a quarter deposit that they get back when they return their carts.

This is not a novel idea. Several American grocers tried it in the 1980s and 1990s, but abandoned the practice after it annoyed customers who had come to expect more services at  their grocery stores. Aldi, which opened its first US store in Iowa in 1976, has stuck with the model, insisting the deposit system is key to its low-price strategy. The store’s most die-hard fans even celebrate it, heralding when Aldi offers “quarter keeper” keychains from time to time. Some fans even knit their own versions. A search on Etsy for “Aldi quarter keeper” turns up more than 500 results.