Tips For Shopping At ALDI Grocery Stores

Written by Andrea on April 4, 2008 | Comments (0)

I don't know if you have an ALDI Grocery Store in your neighborhood, but there is a good chance you do. ALDI grocery stores were first introduced to US consumers in 1976 in southeastern Iowa. Now there are over 850 store in the United States (5000 internationally) and the store is ranked 24th in gross sales for grocery stores in the nation.

Shopping at ALDI is an interesting experience.

The first thing you will notice at ALDI is that the shopping carts are all chained together in front of the store and you need a quarter to retrieve one.

While this is certainly an inconvenience, you will never have to worry about not being able to find a grocery cart, or having your car damaged by a grocery cart on a windy day. This is because most customers will re-chain their cart in place to get their quarter back. (I rarely return my cart for the returned quarter, but instead wait for someone to approach the cart rack and give them mine, free of charge. It's a feel-good thing.)

Another major inconvenience you will find when shopping at ALDI stores is that they do not provide grocery bags. You can pay for paper bags, bring your own, or scrounge boxes throughout the store. How you get your groceries into your home is up to you.

You may also notice that food selection is slim at ALDI stores, very much like the large discount warehouse stores. ALDI stores also do not accept checks, credit cards, or coupons. You can use your debit card, electronic food stamps card, or cash.

So with all of this inconvenience, why am I praising ALDI stores? Because, as a result of these cost-cutting 'inconveniences', ALDI stores are able to provide customers with rock-bottom prices, and save flexible customers a great deal of money.

You will find meats, dairy, fresh produce, and no frills canned goods along side many store-brand overstock items every week.

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