What is the lure of Aldi's Market?

I probably wouldn’t go out of my either but it’s only three minutes from home :wink: Ditto that with Trader Joes to tell the truth, that’s over a half hour drive but my husband has a few doctors that we visit regularly right around the corner…but you can’t do your full shopping there either, really. At least I can’t, I go for the stuff I can’t get anywhere else and pretty much that’s it.

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So far, I would not place Trader Joe’s in the same category with Aldi…

To me, they are both specialty markets, at least what I’m drawn to when I go. Still need a good old fashioned American grocery for most of my shopping.

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There have been stories in the press here (Houston) since the first of the year about Lidl, claiming Texas locations will follow close on the heels of those in NC, SC and VA. Supposedly one tract was already selected in Pearland but ran afoul of local regulations about being too close to a school and selling alcohol.

As with Aldi when it first came to town, all the potential locations that have been mentioned are in outlying areas and none is anywhere close to me.

But I’m looking forward to them and will find some excuse to visit one.

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The Braunsshweiger in my local Aldi’s in Queens, NY is priced at $2.09 a pound. It’s very good but over twice the price others are implying.
The atmosphere is reminiscent of a 99 cent store that sells mostly food. I would never go if it wasn’t 5 minutes from home, but the lure of milk at $2.09 a gallon and a dozen large eggs for $.99 gets me in the door 2-3 times a month.
Some of their canned goods are OK. Their produce is terrible. And obviously every store is different since the one near me does not sell alcohol.

Everything’s more expensive in the city! Even Aldi :wink:

I just realized, the 99 cents liverwurst was Wunderbar brand, which was better than any other to me. But somehow Boars Head made them disappear with their strong arm tactics, and all I see at my usual deli counters is 100% Boars Head brand. At triple the price, of course.

You’re paying less than $.99 for a dozen eggs and $2.09 for a gallon of milk???
I think it’s just individual store pricing.
btw, Aldi’s brand Braunschweiger is “Deutsche Kuche”. The label says “Inspired by Germany”.

Well that explains it. It’s good though, a lot better than Boars Head for sure.

Dollar Tree has 18 eggs for $1. (Not sure what size, though.)

I know what Dollar Tree is but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one.
On rare occasions, I can get medium eggs for 50 cents a dozen. But I think we’re off on a tangent. All I really wanted to know was if Aldi’s in other locations were charging less than those prices. I think they have different loss leaders in each location. While definitely within NYC, the Aldi’s near me is certainly aiming at a lower class demographic.

FWIW, Aldi UK’s egg prices are as follows. Prices are for single large eggs (easiest way to display as Aldo has all sorts of packaging diifferences between its egg products). US pricing based on £1 = $1.30

Organic - $0.30
Free Range - $0.19
Factory produced - $0.10

By way of comparision, our normal supermarket (Sainsbury) offers similar at:

Organic - $0.47
Free Range - $0/29
Factory - $0.17

I hit Aldi in Houston yesterday.

Milk was $1.88 gallon and eggs were $0.89 dz.

My prize of the day was a heavy duty charcoal chimney for $7. Just in time for the Fourth! WooHoo!

I didn’t find that. Okay, the cherries were not as good as at Shop-Rite, but they were certainly good enough, given they were on sale for $1.49/pound–half the price. Their multi-color pepper pack is fine as well.

The big problem with the produce is that you have to get there early for the sale items. By 3PM one day they were all gone. I went again at 11AM the next and they had plenty of the items in stock.

The Moser Roth chili chocolate is not as good as Lindt’s, though, and about the same price as when Lindt is on sale. For starters, it had very little chili flavor.

The Aldi nearest me is not so near that I will make a special trip to it, but if I’m passing early in the day, I might stop in.

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Smoked salmon, goat cheese, jamon iberico (@Presunto) artichoke hearts, paté, prosciutto, havarti, artisan salami, gruyere, Sumatra fair trade & German mild coffee, machengo, Manzanilla olives, cornichons, reserve cheddar, wheat biscuits are all really good.

Also anything with the Deutsche Kuche (German Cusine) label is really good and usually imported, like bavarian bratwurst, kraut, red cabbage, strudel, white asparagus, schnitzel, etc. They have all the German Christmas cookies (Weihnachtsgebäck, lebkuchen, springleri, peffernusse, zimtsterne) at Christmas (@linguafood) which is really handy if you don’t want to bake.

My local Aldi stores also have a great selection of Mexican ingredients, like Masa, tortillas, tostada shells, spices, Chili’s, corn husks, dried beans and sauces, not to mention Mexican chorizo, avocados, limes, and queso fresco.

Also nothing wrong with their canned goods.

It’s all half the price of regular stores, or a third of the price of Wegmans or Whole Foods.

But you do have to slum through the boxes with the great unwashed, and know what you are looking for.

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My store carries a lot of organic produce and it’s very good for the most part. The shelf life is short, hence the low prices

I enjoy the experience it’s a treasure hunt

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I think you proved my point that every Aldi’s stocks a different selection and has different prices for identical items. The produce isn’t really “terrible” (as I erroneously described it a while back) in the Aldi’s near me, it’s just average; but it’s very overpriced. The gourmet green grocer has lower prices on many items. Aldi’s has eggs, milk, and ice cream as loss leaders but are making their profit on the few produce items they have. Cherries? Never in my Aldi’s. Organics? LOL! The Aldi’s near me is trying to compete with the 99 cent stores.

There are a couple “Farmers Markets” ( read - produce store) near me that sell eggs from a local producer for $0.89 per dozen for 12 Jumbo eggs. That’s the current price & it varies from week to week. They were as high as $2.49 last year. But even then they were half the price of anybody else.

A bag of 8 lemons for .99 on Sunday, marked waay down.
Butter was $5.00 at the grocery and 2.49 at Aldi for a #.

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