Andréa, the latter of the two. Apparently the magazine changed the permanent URL.
(Which sounds wrong, I know)
They just added the number 577672/ to the end. The second one is relevant to that discussion, also.
One problem I saw in the conclusions. They said that lower income families don’t buy in bulk and therefore need to make more trips to the store. That would only be true if they weren’t already going to the store for other things, such as perishables or buying other items in bulk.
BillClay – I think that they are assuming that people are buying different things from different stores. And also that no matter how much you buy you can carry it home all at once, which is bunk. I have a really really nice bundle buggy (and it cost a lot of money, so I wouldn’t expect a household where money is tight enough that they have to waste it on buying smaller packages of things to have one like it), and if I’m buying flour and toilet paper, that’s pretty much it for what I can do in one trip.
What an odd measurement “cost-per-sheet.” Since a roll of toilet paper is made up of sheets, and bulk rolls are made up of sheets, why not just say they pay 6% more for toilet paper. The cost-per-sheet measurement may mean something if you want to specify the actual cost: .0075 cents per sheet versus .00795 cents for instance.
Another problem with buying in bulk for less affluent people is storage. Sure, you may be able to find room for one bulk purchase, if it’s not too bulky, but space is usually at a premium for them/us.
Like Christine, I’m not sure the conclusions are correct. Yes, having less money means you have less flexibility in how you spend it, possibly costing you more. For a good number of years I was in that position, having to pass up sales and bulk purchases because I didn’t have to money to take advantage of the offers. So far, so good.
However, I think the conclusion that lower-income people make irrational decisions is correct. If they don’t have a car, a trip to Costco to buy 40 rolls of toilet paper and a gallon of mayonnaise isn’t really possible. As Christine points out, there is only so much you can carry home. Add in the cost of busfare and their time to travel there and back, and suddenly the savings aren’t so significant. Buying something locally but paying somewhat more may be a very rational choice.
On a related note, Costco recently opened a store in Toronto that is different. It’s in the Thorncliffe Park area of East York, an area we refer to as an “inner suburb”. It’s in the city but was mostly developed after the War. As such, it is more automobile-focused than older parts of the city. It has wider roads and more spaced-out development, but it is not sprawling like a real suburb. It’s also a lower-income area and has a high proportion of immigrants. With a Costco in their area, easily accessible either by walking or bus, these residents can now do bulk shopping. Based on multiple visits to the location (it’s closer to me than the previous location I patronized), the local population certainly seems to have embraced it. This does support the other conclusion, that when it is possible to take advantage of deals, lower-income shoppers will do so. The store opening has also brought 150 jobs to the area, so that’s injected some money into the neighbourhood.
@Chak: You’re right there too. We visited one of my wife’s extended family members who lives in the suburbs. They have a large house. One wall in a large, otherwise unused room in the finished basement, had multiple large metal storage shelves filled with non-perishable items they had stocked up on. We,on the other hand, have to consider if there is room for another 40 rolls of toilet paper or another two gallons of laundry detergent in our two-bedroom apartment in the city.
I was going to be that guy, but…
Shoot, it didn’t work right — the video should have started at 1:28, the second sketch….
Yikes! I was hoping for a stack of (discount) mattresses to make it okay!
@larK: That was hilarious. But seriously don’t trash-talk Costco around me. If you do, I’ll know you’re evil, just like the Wall Street analysts who priced down Costco’s shares because the company treats its employees better than Walmart. http://reclaimdemocracy.org/costco_employee_benefits_walmart/ (the article is reprinted on an activist website, but originally appeared in the WSJ, so certainly not a leftist source)
I’ve never been in one of these ‘warehouse stores’ since my one visit – I was SO OVERWHELMED I had to turn right around and leave . . . I thought to myself, ‘Who in the heck needs this much FOOD, etc.???’ Of course, because I don’t cook, a regular grocery store can be overwhelming for me, too . . . I always wonder what can be made with all these choices of foodstuffs. And how does one decide what/which to buy? Takes more time thinking about food than I care to spend. ‘Some live to eat; others eat to live.’ I’m a member of the latter group; if I could take a pill a day to satisfy my vitamin, etc., needs, I’d do that.
Andrea, it is evident that you really didn’t go into Costco (I haven’t been to other brands, so can speak only about Costco). It sounds like Costco would be perfect for you. The store usually has only a limited number of options for any give product. For example, my Costco sells two types of peanut butter, Perhaps 8 types of cereal, two types of tuna, a handful of laundry detergent brands, two toilet paper brands. The items they do sell typically come in only one size. The options are actually substantially fewer than a regular supermarket.
It was a Sam’s Club; I figured a warehouse store is a warehouse store.
We don’t have those here. I don’t know what they’re like.
It was interesting to hear the language – I’m assuming this was REAL, not a parody, and that it was really Icelandic/ish they were speaking . . . except for OK, uh, um and Costco.
Wifey and I fired Costco a couple years ago after I repeatedly pointed out to her that most of the things we’d pick up there seemed to cost around the same as if we’d bought them at some other store. Sure, there were some bargains, but you can find bargains on some stuff just about anywhere. Sure haven’t missed them and their “membership” fee. I will not support them and their regressive, destructive business model.
I just don’t buy enough stuff to make a Costco etc. membership worthwhile. Besides, if you’re savvy on prices you can often do as well with sales where you do shop. I’d bet that the six-packs of Viva towels I buy on sale at Walgreens with a dollar-off coupon probably are less than the Costco price.
I’m afraid we’re going to have to throw you out now Brian…
@ larK: No, Brian is just being a Costco skeptic, as I was before I learned of the magic. It’s the Swimming Man who must go. He seems to have confused Walmart with Costco, a company with a history of treating employees well. https://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/case-study/the-costco-model Not a perfect place though. Their pharmacy was involved in a scandal here in Canada.
I can only speak for my circumstances using Costco in Canada but I think you are underestimating the benefits. I’m not a fool. I check promotions (reebee app is great for that) and know I can sometimes get a better deal elsewhere. Canada is not really coupon crazy like the USA, so savings mostly come from periodic sales.
However, there are some items at Costco–bread, milk, cereal, peanut butter–that are always cheaper. If they go on sale elsewhere they are only about as cheap as Costco prices. On my desk, I have a desk lamp that is listed for $90 at the nearby Staples. It was $23 at Costco. That was a Costco sale price, though. Normal price there is $39. The company has a terrific return policy as well. I see short-sighted people flip their #$%! about the membership fee, but I have saved more on the items I’ve purchased in the last year than my $60 membership fee. Furthermore, I have the store credit card (which is a real Mastercard and can be used elsewhere) and get 1% of my purchase value back when I use the card.
There are certainly some people who wouldn’t benefit from using Costco (maybe Andrea, for example), but there are many who could who reject it through ignorance.
And Big Lots 20% off the entire store are sales I frequent for paper towels, cleaner, laundry soap, etc.
My former boss’ wife would have him run all over town to get sales and use coupons. Did they think gas is free? And personally, my time is worth something, too, especially now that I have less of it.
The nearest CostCo and Sam’s Club are 20+ miles away; stores I use are within five miles. That counts for lots more than cents or even several dollars with me.
I don’t go to art or craft fairs to which I have to pay an admission, and I would not shop in a store that wants me to pay for the ‘privilege’.
“There are certainly some people who wouldn’t benefit from using Costco”
When my daughter moved out, I found that I didn’t require Costco-sized anything any more.
When Hurricane Irma was slated to hit this area of Florida last year, gasoline was, of course, running out. Well, not literally, but you know what I mean.
We weren’t going to leave – not with six dogs – but Hubby wanted both cars’ gas tanks full, just in case. His SIL came over to tell him that CostCo/Sam’s Club had gas available, and off they went.
Several hours later, he came home with not only a full gas tank, but . . . several POUNDS of salads (chicken, egg, etc), a bag of apples and one of oranges. And all sorts of other things we’ve never eaten . . . most of which needed refrigeration.
WHAT do you think was the FIRST thing to go when Irma hit? My appetite. The second thing to go was the electricity. For threedays.
Several days later, I threw out at least $200 worth of food, and gave away the fruit.
The seduction of bulk buying, is what I call it. Lesson learned; next hurricane, don’t let Hubby go to CostCo/Sam’s Club, not even to fill the gas tank!
@Andrea: I already said Costco might not be right for you, given that you don’t cook and it’s far away. However, if Costco is a decent fit for someone, refusing to pay the membership fee would be cutting off your nose to spite your face.
I’d guess I save $10-$20 on a regular visit where we just get groceries. I bought two desk lamps that I mentioned in a previous comment, saving $67 each. I bought two fans last summer, saving about $50 on each one. So, if I save $15 bucks on groceries each month, $100 on fans, $134 dollars on desk lamps and I have a $50 cash back credit from using my credit card there, that’s total savings of $464 in the last year. This is putting aside other savings I don’t recall off the top of my head.
$464- $60 annual fee = $404 in savings.
Refusing to pay a fee to receive benefits worth more than the fee is irrational. I used to think that way until I visited the place with a friend and did the numbers.
So I guess I will risk being thrown off the balcony…
I’ve tried two or three times, and we just cannot see the point of Costco and co — we get a free entrance invite, so we go in, intending to make the most of it, and we are hard pressed to find *anything* to buy — the prices just aren’t that great when you do the math, and where they are just comparable, we don’t want to have to buy that much of whatever item, especially since, as I said, the price is just comparable, not ridiculously cheap. We have tried over the years, three or so times now, often with a clear agenda, like we’ll buy a year’s worth of toilet paper or something, and still, it just isn’t worth it. I prefer Aldi and their weekly items, and there’s no membership fee. And Lidl is coming soon, too!
(In fairness, maybe in socialist Canada things are different…)
Well, if you’ve checked the merchandise and the cost elsewhere and it doesn’t work for you, that’s fine. It isn’t the right fit for everyone. After my mother died and he was on his own, my father cancelled his membership. He’d sometimes come to the store with my wife and me but it didn’t make sense for his circumstances. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. My rather spirited hawking of Costco is because I think it makes sense for a lot of people who haven’t done the numbers or are locked into the “I ain’t paying to shop in that store!” mindset.
I’d say Germany is probably more socialist than Canada.
I well might be, but I’m talking about the US, where I live, not Germany.
And I know that in Iceland the Costco is way cheaper than anything else (see the first skit on the video I posted above) — Iceland is ridiculously expensive!
I’m with larK. Costco prices are higher than I actually pay, for what I actually buy.
@carlfink: Well, I guess I’m wrong then. I don’t experience substantial savings. Your experience obviously negates mine.
I was very careful to qualify my statement iwth “what I … buy.” What you buy might be a great deal at Costco.
@carlfink: Sorry. Perhaps I read to much into that, There’s just been a constant stream of people in the discussion saying Costco doesn’t work for them, me explaining how and why it works for me but that it may not work for everyone, but nobody saying “Hey, it seems to work well for you. That’s great.” I think I was feeling a little put upon.
Yes, it works for you and, obviously, for lots of others ’cause CostCo is still opening stores, nation wide. If we all shopped at the same store, imagine how crowded the parking lot would be!
Why thank you, Andréa. :) On some days it feels like everyone does. It’s not as busy at the new location I go to, though.
My friend’s father referred to Costco as “the 50 pounds of nutmeg” store.
When I lived in Pasadena, at the Alhambra CostCo (the closest one) you could spend more time cruising the parking lot for an open space (and it was almost a full city block) than you would actually spend in the store. There was something like 24 checkout registers, and there were always lines 2 or 3 carts deep at every one. I get the feeling from reading the comments that prices and savings vary depending on where you are. High cost-of-living areas probably do better than other places, maybe. I know we just go to CostCo for specific items, and only when there are enough items on our list to justify the trip. So in Pasadena we probably just barely saved the annual fee (although the savings on one big ticket item purchase could pretty much cover the fee.) Interestingly, the gasoline was only about $.10 cheaper per gallon than the other gas stations. Now, I live on an island that (since the K-Mart closed) is served by a WalMart and CostCo, that’s it. If you can’t find it there, your only options are Amazon or flying to Honolulu. (Okay, I’ve simplified that a little, there’s nothing like Target, but there are grocery stores and a Home Depot.) We live 30 miles from the CostCo, so generally, we have multiple reasons (i.e. not just CostCo) to make a trip before we go. However, the gasoline is $0.90 per gallon cheaper than the other stations, so whenever we meed a fill-up, that becomes a deciding factor as to whether we have enough reasons to justify the drive. We’ll probably save over $300 a year just in gas, and that’s even after accounting for the gasoline it takes to drive there and back.. But believe me, I am not complaining.
It’s the gas that makes the Costco membership worth it to me, too. Last week Costco was .20 cheaper per gallon than the cheapest other gas station in the area – and .60 cheaper than the nearest. I also buy stuff that I eat a lot of (cheese in 2.5 pound loaves, which I go through in about 3 weeks…the supermarkets have 2 pound loaves for a couple dollars more than the 2.5 lb Costco ones), and (rarely) paper goods (what they sell doesn’t usually work for me). And very rarely hard goods – electronics and so on. Though the computer I’m typing this on came from Costco, come to think of it…
But the gas by itself more than covers my fee, so buying other stuff at the same or slightly lower price than I could get it elsewhere works for me (or even slightly, very slightly, higher). Though I have overrun my storage a few times.
I’ve been in a Sam’s Club a couple times (those free invites) – my impression is a Walmart blown up to huge size. Not nearly as constrained as Costco. I was a member of BJ’s, back when I lived on the East Coast…but I don’t remember what it was like, whether more like a warehouse or a supermarketX10.
I just don’t buy stuff. For perishables, I have enough trouble using up relatively small sizes. Aldi is a good source for good prices on a limited variety of things. Unless you’re doing all shopping at Costco, then you have figure in extra trips, which is a time sink. I sincerely doubt that it would either save me money or be time efficient.
We have only one local Costco but four local BJ’ses, so we’re BJ’s members. We easily save enough on gas alone to make up the membership fee, but the same is true of the things we buy in-store. Aldi’s doesn’t work for us because we’re picky about our brands.
Also there’s BJ’s tire department, which doesn’t come up often, but when it does that can pay for your membership too. The price I paid was comparable to TireRack, and included installation and warranty.
We’re five minutes from a WM Neighborhood store, which is JUST my size, altho Hubby now does most of our grocery shopping and sometimes goes to Publix closer by that I’ve never been to. I do 90% of non-perishable shopping online, either for pick up or shipping.
When I was in college taking business courses one of the professors talked about how people in poorer neighborhoods pay more for the same items as people in richer neighborhoods both due to packaged items are purchased by customers in smaller packages (so cost per item higher to customer), customers are less likely to stock up on items when on sale as they cannot afford to do so, there is a higher rate of theft as people cannot afford to buy what they need, and if people buy on credit (directly with the store – this is 45 + years ago) they are more likely not to pay or take longer to do so. In addition generally it is a smaller store as chain stores won’t always open in poorer neighborhoods as they don’t anticipate their regular return so prices are higher due to less savings by the seller as they don’t get the same pricing. (Remember, this is what my professor said, not my opinion.)
We belong to Costco and BJs. We first had memberships in them through Robert’s job (he had them, his second card was given to the fellow who taught cooking and ran the cafeteria). Not sure if we would belong to Sam’s Club if there was one to go to or not. There is one all the way out in the next county and when it opened we took a trip out – it was disappointing compared to the other two and Walmart.
Yes, we thought it was stupid to pay for the membership. (Fair notice – this laptop was recently purchased at Costco – there is an additional one year warranty as a result plus there is a 800 number to call for help with electronics. Returns on computers are 90 days – for most items there is no end date to when one can return.
We go weekly to both stores. We first go to Costco. We have lunch – indulgent slice of pizza each and a soda to share runs us, including sales tax, $4.99 for pretty good pizza, even to my Italian husband. If he has a hot dog instead of pizza, the soda comes with his hot dog and it costs us $3.79. We then walk around – depending on what is offered, we have the free samples. We watch the “shows” (production demonstrations). Most weeks we do not buy anything. We don’t buy a lot of food there as the packages are too large, but there are some items. We also buy papergoods there. (I may not need to buy bathroom paper cups ever again.) We buy some of our vitamins there. We had our photos taken there for our MTA senior discount cards – and will also do so when we need passport photos again in a few years. Large plastic boxes – better and cheaper than other stores. Batteries – best price and if one waits for a sale even better. Our car is losing oil – it is a known problem with it, except to Chevy and better price on oil than Walmart which was the best we had found before. So we figure the $60 cost comes to $1.15 a week (for 50 weeks), which is not a bad cost for a discounted lunch, snacks, entertainment and a place to walk around – plus sometimes buy something. Oh, and my reenactment unit needed new checks – credit union wants $45 for about $100 – duplicate checks through Costco are around $18 for twice as many!
We have bought gas at Costco when traveling. The Costco with a gas station here is too far to go to. So, after our visit to Costco, we stop up the street at Bjs and buy gas – today we event bought food on a special trip to BJs (very near us -not the one we go to to gas up the car). We then go to a larger Walmart (they are planning to turn it into an actual SuperWalmart – but we have heard that before about other WMs ) where we have a found a parking spot that is level so we can let the car sit there for 15 minutes plus to check if we need to add oil.
When we lived in the wrong part of town while my wife went to graduate school, I was amazed to discover how much worse the local Thriftway supermarket was to what you get in more affluent areas. The prices were higher, the selection worse, the service deplorable, the store old, dirty and in disrepair. And the only reason for it I could see was disdain for the poorer people who comprised its clientele. I had a similar experience with a Shaw’s on the wrong side of the tracks in New England (it was known locally as “Scary Shaw’s”) where I had to agitate and complain mightily to get my money back on a carton of Orange Juice that was bad — they actually were giving me grief about the consumed portion, they wanted to pro-rate it or something — even though Shaw’s had a no questions asked satisfaction guarantee! They not only sold me spoiled Orange Juice (“This OJ was unrefrigerated for 6 hours” “send it to the poor section of town, they don’t complain!”), they then gave me all kinds of pushback on their “no questions asked” satisfaction policy! OK, so maybe the juice is spoiled, but you drank some of it! Like, what, they were going to try and resell it?
It was in the ghetto Thriftway era that I discovered my first Aldi in the US — a couple blocks deeper into the bad neighborhood, Aldi had set up. This was their strategy, to purposely go into underserved poor areas, and eat the other stores’ lunch, dinner, breakfast, and milk money. Plus they had hard to find German Christmas cookies, imported from Germany, dirt cheap.
Even if I hadn’t already been a fan of Aldi, boy I sure would be after that time. Screw you Thriftway! The only downside to their strategy was that it didn’t look like we would ever get an Aldi near us now, because our area wasn’t poor enough, but they’ve grown so much that they can come to richer areas now… (Or is my town become poor and I just haven’t noticed, like the boiled frog?)
” the only reason for it I could see was disdain for the poorer people who comprised its clientele.”
Higher shrinkage losses.
“Plus they had hard to find German Christmas cookies, imported from Germany, dirt cheap.”
I didn’t know that – now I see that we have an Aldi six miles away and I’m going there to see what they have in imported Christmas cookies. I’m looking for vanillin sugar, which is also imported from Germany, so maybe they’ll have it. Thanks!
It might be a bit late in the season, unfortunately, depending on the Aldi. They tend to do weekly specials of items totally unrelated from the previous week, and the Christmas cookies were featured at the beginning of December….
Lidl has a similar business model to Aldi, and they are now also expanding into the US, so if you have one, check there, too (Lidl is also German).
I will note on my calendar to check next year!
Looks like they’re on the East Coast down to Georgia; I’m on the west coast of Florida. Maybe someday . . .
larK,
When I did a google search for “lidl near me” it showed me all the Aldi locations in Chicago. Is lidl a subsidiary?
Chak, more likely Google is “helping” you and assuming you didn’t really want to search for just the terms you asked for. It used to ask if you meant some other word rather than one that get only a few hits. Now it just throws them in regardless.
What Arthur said. Lidl is a competitor that copied Aldi (though a lot of times I find they actually surpass Aldi…) Aldi has been expanding in the US for a number of years (decades, really), and Lidl seems only recently to have come to the US; for now they are centered on the East coast of the US, spreading outwards from Virginia. (This discussion actually prompted me to go out to the nearest US Lidl this evening to see what it was like; I hadn’t realized they had spread to within a half hour from me…)
Were there any cookies????
@Arthur, I hated that Google (and competitor) “We know what you’re searching for better than you” thing, and I hate it more every time it makes my actual search impossible.
Funny (at least to me) psychology. I instinctively want Aldi and LIdl to be inferior to US-owned supermarkets. I can feel it happening in my head.
Yet I work for an England-based company myself and I’m proud of the job we do. Interesting watching from one brain center as other brain centers fight it out.
carlfink, after Google has misunderstood your search, hit “verbatim” to tell it, “Use MY search, not what you think I meant.”
Someone uploaded a moving gif to help people find “verbatim”:
Andréa: they had some, a sufficient selection, but not an overwhelmingly great selection, but good enough for this close to xmas. I got a marzipan log, not quite the kind I wanted, but better than nothing. (The main reason I went was for the weekly special of thermo tea glasses — I’d bought a set in Germany (and I honestly can’t remember if it was Lidl or Aldi), and I’ve since broken two of the three, and it turned out I really liked them, so a replacement set was too much for me to resist…)
I LOOOVE marzipan – REAL marzipan. If I want anything Dutch, like candy or cookies, I have to order from here – http://dutchsweets.com/ – and you can imagine the postage costs (even tho it comes from, I believe, Canada).
Well, you should definitely check out that Aldi that’s only six miles from you — I didn’t mean my comment to discourage you, only to warn you that they might not have much of a selection this close to the end of the season. They tend to have Spekulatius cookies most of the time (these were the kind that back in the day were impossible to find, and Aldi in the ghetto had one pound bags for like $1.99), they also have imported chocolate covered biscuits as a regular item, along with imported afternoon tea type cookies. The Pfeffernüsse and Lebkuchen and Marzipan they tend to get only in November/December, with the selection going up (multiple kinds/brands of Spekulatius and Lebkuchen) toward the middle of that time period, and then dropping off the closer you get to xmas. It is of course moot for me because I discovered a couple years ago that those cookies cause me abdominal discomfort. :-(
Foods of my childhood. I plan to go there tomorrow, or if not then, after Christmas. Who knows; there may be something left.
Might you have developed a nut allergy? At 65, Hubby did . . . altho I do NOT understand how a NUT allergy develops for peanuts, which isn’t a nut, and then segues into tree nut allergy. In any case, all those cookies are now mine alone, and I no longer can make his fave pie, Bourbon Chocolate Chip Pecan, altho I might try making one without the pecans, just the mixture and the bourbon & chocolate chips.
I had heard of Aldi’s. I had seen one from the Interstate driving somewhere, but had never been in one. I know that people love them.
We had one open in the next county near where we were eating dinner at the time (place we ate at closed) and we stopped in. I could not believe how disappointing it was. I understand the concept of saving money for the company by not having display shelves, etc, but what they had was so limited I could not even find anything we normally buy. We figured maybe it was that they were new and stopped in again a few times afterwards – same thing. Unless one wanted cereal or other carbohydrate items (cake mixes, cookies, macaroni…) there was nothing there.
One opened on the main highway in Lancaster, PA either last year or the year before that. Knowing that many stores are different on LI than they are elsewhere, we stopped in one afternoon. It was slightly bigger, but basically the same. This one did have a small meat case – all items seemed to be beef.
I am sorry, I just don’t get what we are missing about Aldi’s as everyone seems to love it so much.
That is not much like the Aldi stores in St. Louis.
There are two separate Aldi chains in Germany: Aldi “North” and “South”. The stores themselves are virtually identical, but the geographic separation makes a detailed comparison difficult. I have no idea how the American “Aldi” stores compare to the German parents.
The primary (or rather “only”) advantage of shopping at Aldi is price. Virtually everything sold is packaged under plain-wrap or special brands found only there, and nowhere else. The quality is uniformly acceptable, but not exceptional. This is particularly true for candy (especially chocolate), cereals, and cookies. When our kids come back from Halloween, stuff from Aldi usually forms a fairly large portion of their loot. While it is sweet, and the kids will eat most of it, I’ve never seen anything that I would prefer to buy at Aldi, even if it is marginally cheaper there.
I used to go to a nearby Aldi occasionally to stock up on unsalted peanuts and (occasionally) sturdy, no-frills trash bags. Then they stopped carrying both (or maybe just were all out of both for three or four times in a row), so I’ve not been in one now for the last five or six years.
American Aldi is part of Aldi Süd. I don’t know why, but I prefer Aldi Süd to Aldi Nord, even though in the end, they are basically the same — it’s something about the presentation.
The big advantage of Aldi in the US for me is that they HAVE German cookies, chocolate, etc.; that they are cheap is an added bonus. Yes, they might not be as good as the best you can get in Germany, but they are better than the nothing you normally can get here. If I lived in Germany to the point that the novelty wore off of being able to get all these things I can’t normally get, I probably would give Aldi a miss, at least as far as chocolate and sweets go.
On the other hand, they have been moving away from the pure non-frills for a while now. The stores are slowly getting updated to be more luxurious, they are adding more and more “premium” lines of product; heck, they even accept credit cards now!
The other thing that keeps me coming back to Aldi (and Lidl, etc.) are the weekly specials, especially when I’m in Germany. In the US it’s a chance to get certain stuff that is all made in China anyway much cheaper than elsewhere (Bullet blenders, we got one virtually identical to the as-seen-on-TV one for like 20 bucks vs the 50 or whatever the name brand one was; silicon baking mats, the Silpat ones are like $20, the in every way comparable Aldi ones were $3 (I’ve baked through a Silpat, so I have direct comparison)); the only thing is you have to wait for the stuff to come around again, you can’t just buy it whenever you want. That’s a psychological trick, keeps you coming back to the store… In Germany, the weekly stuff is stuff that you typically can’t find in the US, at any price. Just the different consumer mentality makes the products different, and I have a European mentality, so to see the stuff available, and cheap! It’s great! Still mourning the loss of one of the pair of grey wool Thinsulate lined gloves I bought at Aldi or Lidl in Germany two years ago for €3 — €3! — I left it accidentally behind in Iceland as a Karma price for nagging my mother to not lose her gloves…
I find it interesting that Lidl in the US is trying to place itself as a more eclectic, high class store, not the no-frills ripping-off-Aldi of its roots. Aldi stores in the US use the German system of putting a coin in the shopping cart to make you return the carts to save on having to hire people to do it — it worked fine 20 years ago when they were the better alternative in ghettos to the local Thriftway, but as they move to more affluent areas, the people don’t understand the system, and bitch mightily about it. Lidl in the States has totally forgone that, so they have employees roaming the parking lots. Their stores are all newly built, very glass and airy and modern looking. I don’ think they are even bothering with the “serve the under-served poor areas” that was Aldi’s model in the US for the past 30 years…
There is a very good Freakonomics that is basically a love letter to Trader Joe’s (Trader Joe’s is owned by Aldi, and run very much according to the same principles as their eponymous stores): http://freakonomics.com/podcast/trader-joes/
One of my favorite things to get at Aldi are the goat cheese logs. they roll them in either blueberries or cranberries and they are just amazing. but they are also only available at certain times.
Some things at Aldi aren’t that much better price than the supermarkets, some are substantially better. Example, the heavy whipping cream at mine is $1.99/pint, the equivalent at the supermarket is about $4. For a time, milk was that way. It was about $2/gallon versus $4. Lately, Aldi milk has crept up and the supermarket down so that they’re closer. Aldi still wins.
The produce section is fairly small, but expanded when they renovated the stores recently. Lately they’ve been having bagged “flat-leaf” spinach for .99/8 oz. It’s a good product and a good price. Unfortunately, a lot of the meat, chicken and pork particularly, is “enhanced” with “solution”. I don’t buy that. The vacuum-packed beef is not.
A lot depends on the sales at the various stores. And what Aldi runs out of. Stock can be a problem, especially with sales, and there are no “rain checks” there.
Aldi Nord also has an American presence. They own Trader Joe’s. This is handy for me, because we can get a few Trader Joe’s brand things year round, most notably tortillas. A couple of times a year, they have “American week” and have a lot of other TJ products, like roasted onions and bagels. We were talking about blueberry juice a while back and they carry TJ blueberry juice during those weeks. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it in the US, though. they’re enough cheaper than the major chain supermarket next door, that I usually hit Aldi first, then go to the supermarket for whatever Aldi didn’t have.
The reason Germany has two different Aldi’s is that the sons of the founder couldn’t agree on a power-sharing structure when they inherited and so they split the company and divided territories.
Fitting that I put a greengrocer’s apostrophe in that post.
The Aldi’s I have seen have been in middle class areas here on LI and ditto in Lancaster, PA. The first one I saw- only while driving past – in Lancaster – well over a decade ago – was on the edge of Lancaster City (as opposed to the larger Lancaster County it is in) on Rte 501 just about where it joins in a V with Rte 222, below Rte 30. The newer one – which is on Rte 30 in a shopping center in the middle of the tourist area – is the one we stopped in.
Lidl seemed familiar to me. They have recently bought a small chain of supermarkets around here named Best Buy – they are a higher price, smaller store chain.
King Kullen – the first self serve supermarket (per them – not sure how Piggly Wiggly fits into same) has just been bought out by Stop and Shop out of Boston (same Dutch co owner as Giant Food and Lion among others). Most of the local Stop and Shops used to be a individually owned stores that were under the name Foodtown. (The name has returned on at least one supermarket in the area) Stop and Shop and other markets have recently purchased individual stores that were Pathmark and Walmart (no longer A&Ps here) which were previously owned by the A&P chain before it went under.
So we have gone from maybe around 10 different chains of supermarkets to 3 or 4 of them in the past decade or so.
Comics I Don't Understand 
404 NOT FOUND
How odd. I’ll track it down later.
IS THIS IT?
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/12/paper-towels-us-use-consume/577672/
And this one . . .
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/05/privilege-of-buying-in-bulk/482361/
Andréa, the latter of the two. Apparently the magazine changed the permanent URL.
(Which sounds wrong, I know)
They just added the number 577672/ to the end. The second one is relevant to that discussion, also.
One problem I saw in the conclusions. They said that lower income families don’t buy in bulk and therefore need to make more trips to the store. That would only be true if they weren’t already going to the store for other things, such as perishables or buying other items in bulk.
BillClay – I think that they are assuming that people are buying different things from different stores. And also that no matter how much you buy you can carry it home all at once, which is bunk. I have a really really nice bundle buggy (and it cost a lot of money, so I wouldn’t expect a household where money is tight enough that they have to waste it on buying smaller packages of things to have one like it), and if I’m buying flour and toilet paper, that’s pretty much it for what I can do in one trip.
What an odd measurement “cost-per-sheet.” Since a roll of toilet paper is made up of sheets, and bulk rolls are made up of sheets, why not just say they pay 6% more for toilet paper. The cost-per-sheet measurement may mean something if you want to specify the actual cost: .0075 cents per sheet versus .00795 cents for instance.
Another problem with buying in bulk for less affluent people is storage. Sure, you may be able to find room for one bulk purchase, if it’s not too bulky, but space is usually at a premium for them/us.
Like Christine, I’m not sure the conclusions are correct. Yes, having less money means you have less flexibility in how you spend it, possibly costing you more. For a good number of years I was in that position, having to pass up sales and bulk purchases because I didn’t have to money to take advantage of the offers. So far, so good.
However, I think the conclusion that lower-income people make irrational decisions is correct. If they don’t have a car, a trip to Costco to buy 40 rolls of toilet paper and a gallon of mayonnaise isn’t really possible. As Christine points out, there is only so much you can carry home. Add in the cost of busfare and their time to travel there and back, and suddenly the savings aren’t so significant. Buying something locally but paying somewhat more may be a very rational choice.
On a related note, Costco recently opened a store in Toronto that is different. It’s in the Thorncliffe Park area of East York, an area we refer to as an “inner suburb”. It’s in the city but was mostly developed after the War. As such, it is more automobile-focused than older parts of the city. It has wider roads and more spaced-out development, but it is not sprawling like a real suburb. It’s also a lower-income area and has a high proportion of immigrants. With a Costco in their area, easily accessible either by walking or bus, these residents can now do bulk shopping. Based on multiple visits to the location (it’s closer to me than the previous location I patronized), the local population certainly seems to have embraced it. This does support the other conclusion, that when it is possible to take advantage of deals, lower-income shoppers will do so. The store opening has also brought 150 jobs to the area, so that’s injected some money into the neighbourhood.
(trigger warning: Story features a photo of a Muslim woman in a hijab and mentions selling halal food items in the store): https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/costco-thorncliffe-park-food-price-1.4764178
@Chak: You’re right there too. We visited one of my wife’s extended family members who lives in the suburbs. They have a large house. One wall in a large, otherwise unused room in the finished basement, had multiple large metal storage shelves filled with non-perishable items they had stocked up on. We,on the other hand, have to consider if there is room for another 40 rolls of toilet paper or another two gallons of laundry detergent in our two-bedroom apartment in the city.
I was going to be that guy, but…
Shoot, it didn’t work right — the video should have started at 1:28, the second sketch….
Yikes! I was hoping for a stack of (discount) mattresses to make it okay!
@larK: That was hilarious. But seriously don’t trash-talk Costco around me. If you do, I’ll know you’re evil, just like the Wall Street analysts who priced down Costco’s shares because the company treats its employees better than Walmart. http://reclaimdemocracy.org/costco_employee_benefits_walmart/ (the article is reprinted on an activist website, but originally appeared in the WSJ, so certainly not a leftist source)
I’ve never been in one of these ‘warehouse stores’ since my one visit – I was SO OVERWHELMED I had to turn right around and leave . . . I thought to myself, ‘Who in the heck needs this much FOOD, etc.???’ Of course, because I don’t cook, a regular grocery store can be overwhelming for me, too . . . I always wonder what can be made with all these choices of foodstuffs. And how does one decide what/which to buy? Takes more time thinking about food than I care to spend. ‘Some live to eat; others eat to live.’ I’m a member of the latter group; if I could take a pill a day to satisfy my vitamin, etc., needs, I’d do that.
Andrea, it is evident that you really didn’t go into Costco (I haven’t been to other brands, so can speak only about Costco). It sounds like Costco would be perfect for you. The store usually has only a limited number of options for any give product. For example, my Costco sells two types of peanut butter, Perhaps 8 types of cereal, two types of tuna, a handful of laundry detergent brands, two toilet paper brands. The items they do sell typically come in only one size. The options are actually substantially fewer than a regular supermarket.
It was a Sam’s Club; I figured a warehouse store is a warehouse store.
We don’t have those here. I don’t know what they’re like.
It was interesting to hear the language – I’m assuming this was REAL, not a parody, and that it was really Icelandic/ish they were speaking . . . except for OK, uh, um and Costco.
Wifey and I fired Costco a couple years ago after I repeatedly pointed out to her that most of the things we’d pick up there seemed to cost around the same as if we’d bought them at some other store. Sure, there were some bargains, but you can find bargains on some stuff just about anywhere. Sure haven’t missed them and their “membership” fee. I will not support them and their regressive, destructive business model.
I just don’t buy enough stuff to make a Costco etc. membership worthwhile. Besides, if you’re savvy on prices you can often do as well with sales where you do shop. I’d bet that the six-packs of Viva towels I buy on sale at Walgreens with a dollar-off coupon probably are less than the Costco price.
I’m afraid we’re going to have to throw you out now Brian…
@ larK: No, Brian is just being a Costco skeptic, as I was before I learned of the magic. It’s the Swimming Man who must go. He seems to have confused Walmart with Costco, a company with a history of treating employees well. https://ethicsunwrapped.utexas.edu/case-study/the-costco-model Not a perfect place though. Their pharmacy was involved in a scandal here in Canada.
I can only speak for my circumstances using Costco in Canada but I think you are underestimating the benefits. I’m not a fool. I check promotions (reebee app is great for that) and know I can sometimes get a better deal elsewhere. Canada is not really coupon crazy like the USA, so savings mostly come from periodic sales.
However, there are some items at Costco–bread, milk, cereal, peanut butter–that are always cheaper. If they go on sale elsewhere they are only about as cheap as Costco prices. On my desk, I have a desk lamp that is listed for $90 at the nearby Staples. It was $23 at Costco. That was a Costco sale price, though. Normal price there is $39. The company has a terrific return policy as well. I see short-sighted people flip their #$%! about the membership fee, but I have saved more on the items I’ve purchased in the last year than my $60 membership fee. Furthermore, I have the store credit card (which is a real Mastercard and can be used elsewhere) and get 1% of my purchase value back when I use the card.
There are certainly some people who wouldn’t benefit from using Costco (maybe Andrea, for example), but there are many who could who reject it through ignorance.
And Big Lots 20% off the entire store are sales I frequent for paper towels, cleaner, laundry soap, etc.
My former boss’ wife would have him run all over town to get sales and use coupons. Did they think gas is free? And personally, my time is worth something, too, especially now that I have less of it.
The nearest CostCo and Sam’s Club are 20+ miles away; stores I use are within five miles. That counts for lots more than cents or even several dollars with me.
I don’t go to art or craft fairs to which I have to pay an admission, and I would not shop in a store that wants me to pay for the ‘privilege’.
“There are certainly some people who wouldn’t benefit from using Costco”
When my daughter moved out, I found that I didn’t require Costco-sized anything any more.
When Hurricane Irma was slated to hit this area of Florida last year, gasoline was, of course, running out. Well, not literally, but you know what I mean.
We weren’t going to leave – not with six dogs – but Hubby wanted both cars’ gas tanks full, just in case. His SIL came over to tell him that CostCo/Sam’s Club had gas available, and off they went.
Several hours later, he came home with not only a full gas tank, but . . . several POUNDS of salads (chicken, egg, etc), a bag of apples and one of oranges. And all sorts of other things we’ve never eaten . . . most of which needed refrigeration.
WHAT do you think was the FIRST thing to go when Irma hit? My appetite. The second thing to go was the electricity. For threedays.
Several days later, I threw out at least $200 worth of food, and gave away the fruit.
The seduction of bulk buying, is what I call it. Lesson learned; next hurricane, don’t let Hubby go to CostCo/Sam’s Club, not even to fill the gas tank!
@Andrea: I already said Costco might not be right for you, given that you don’t cook and it’s far away. However, if Costco is a decent fit for someone, refusing to pay the membership fee would be cutting off your nose to spite your face.
I’d guess I save $10-$20 on a regular visit where we just get groceries. I bought two desk lamps that I mentioned in a previous comment, saving $67 each. I bought two fans last summer, saving about $50 on each one. So, if I save $15 bucks on groceries each month, $100 on fans, $134 dollars on desk lamps and I have a $50 cash back credit from using my credit card there, that’s total savings of $464 in the last year. This is putting aside other savings I don’t recall off the top of my head.
$464- $60 annual fee = $404 in savings.
Refusing to pay a fee to receive benefits worth more than the fee is irrational. I used to think that way until I visited the place with a friend and did the numbers.
So I guess I will risk being thrown off the balcony…
I’ve tried two or three times, and we just cannot see the point of Costco and co — we get a free entrance invite, so we go in, intending to make the most of it, and we are hard pressed to find *anything* to buy — the prices just aren’t that great when you do the math, and where they are just comparable, we don’t want to have to buy that much of whatever item, especially since, as I said, the price is just comparable, not ridiculously cheap. We have tried over the years, three or so times now, often with a clear agenda, like we’ll buy a year’s worth of toilet paper or something, and still, it just isn’t worth it. I prefer Aldi and their weekly items, and there’s no membership fee. And Lidl is coming soon, too!
(In fairness, maybe in socialist Canada things are different…)
Well, if you’ve checked the merchandise and the cost elsewhere and it doesn’t work for you, that’s fine. It isn’t the right fit for everyone. After my mother died and he was on his own, my father cancelled his membership. He’d sometimes come to the store with my wife and me but it didn’t make sense for his circumstances. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. My rather spirited hawking of Costco is because I think it makes sense for a lot of people who haven’t done the numbers or are locked into the “I ain’t paying to shop in that store!” mindset.
I’d say Germany is probably more socialist than Canada.
I well might be, but I’m talking about the US, where I live, not Germany.
And I know that in Iceland the Costco is way cheaper than anything else (see the first skit on the video I posted above) — Iceland is ridiculously expensive!
I’m with larK. Costco prices are higher than I actually pay, for what I actually buy.
@carlfink: Well, I guess I’m wrong then. I don’t experience substantial savings. Your experience obviously negates mine.
I was very careful to qualify my statement iwth “what I … buy.” What you buy might be a great deal at Costco.
@carlfink: Sorry. Perhaps I read to much into that, There’s just been a constant stream of people in the discussion saying Costco doesn’t work for them, me explaining how and why it works for me but that it may not work for everyone, but nobody saying “Hey, it seems to work well for you. That’s great.” I think I was feeling a little put upon.
Yes, it works for you and, obviously, for lots of others ’cause CostCo is still opening stores, nation wide. If we all shopped at the same store, imagine how crowded the parking lot would be!
Why thank you, Andréa. :) On some days it feels like everyone does. It’s not as busy at the new location I go to, though.
My friend’s father referred to Costco as “the 50 pounds of nutmeg” store.
When I lived in Pasadena, at the Alhambra CostCo (the closest one) you could spend more time cruising the parking lot for an open space (and it was almost a full city block) than you would actually spend in the store. There was something like 24 checkout registers, and there were always lines 2 or 3 carts deep at every one. I get the feeling from reading the comments that prices and savings vary depending on where you are. High cost-of-living areas probably do better than other places, maybe. I know we just go to CostCo for specific items, and only when there are enough items on our list to justify the trip. So in Pasadena we probably just barely saved the annual fee (although the savings on one big ticket item purchase could pretty much cover the fee.) Interestingly, the gasoline was only about $.10 cheaper per gallon than the other gas stations. Now, I live on an island that (since the K-Mart closed) is served by a WalMart and CostCo, that’s it. If you can’t find it there, your only options are Amazon or flying to Honolulu. (Okay, I’ve simplified that a little, there’s nothing like Target, but there are grocery stores and a Home Depot.) We live 30 miles from the CostCo, so generally, we have multiple reasons (i.e. not just CostCo) to make a trip before we go. However, the gasoline is $0.90 per gallon cheaper than the other stations, so whenever we meed a fill-up, that becomes a deciding factor as to whether we have enough reasons to justify the drive. We’ll probably save over $300 a year just in gas, and that’s even after accounting for the gasoline it takes to drive there and back.. But believe me, I am not complaining.
It’s the gas that makes the Costco membership worth it to me, too. Last week Costco was .20 cheaper per gallon than the cheapest other gas station in the area – and .60 cheaper than the nearest. I also buy stuff that I eat a lot of (cheese in 2.5 pound loaves, which I go through in about 3 weeks…the supermarkets have 2 pound loaves for a couple dollars more than the 2.5 lb Costco ones), and (rarely) paper goods (what they sell doesn’t usually work for me). And very rarely hard goods – electronics and so on. Though the computer I’m typing this on came from Costco, come to think of it…
But the gas by itself more than covers my fee, so buying other stuff at the same or slightly lower price than I could get it elsewhere works for me (or even slightly, very slightly, higher). Though I have overrun my storage a few times.
I’ve been in a Sam’s Club a couple times (those free invites) – my impression is a Walmart blown up to huge size. Not nearly as constrained as Costco. I was a member of BJ’s, back when I lived on the East Coast…but I don’t remember what it was like, whether more like a warehouse or a supermarketX10.
I just don’t buy stuff. For perishables, I have enough trouble using up relatively small sizes. Aldi is a good source for good prices on a limited variety of things. Unless you’re doing all shopping at Costco, then you have figure in extra trips, which is a time sink. I sincerely doubt that it would either save me money or be time efficient.
We have only one local Costco but four local BJ’ses, so we’re BJ’s members. We easily save enough on gas alone to make up the membership fee, but the same is true of the things we buy in-store. Aldi’s doesn’t work for us because we’re picky about our brands.
Also there’s BJ’s tire department, which doesn’t come up often, but when it does that can pay for your membership too. The price I paid was comparable to TireRack, and included installation and warranty.
We’re five minutes from a WM Neighborhood store, which is JUST my size, altho Hubby now does most of our grocery shopping and sometimes goes to Publix closer by that I’ve never been to. I do 90% of non-perishable shopping online, either for pick up or shipping.
When I was in college taking business courses one of the professors talked about how people in poorer neighborhoods pay more for the same items as people in richer neighborhoods both due to packaged items are purchased by customers in smaller packages (so cost per item higher to customer), customers are less likely to stock up on items when on sale as they cannot afford to do so, there is a higher rate of theft as people cannot afford to buy what they need, and if people buy on credit (directly with the store – this is 45 + years ago) they are more likely not to pay or take longer to do so. In addition generally it is a smaller store as chain stores won’t always open in poorer neighborhoods as they don’t anticipate their regular return so prices are higher due to less savings by the seller as they don’t get the same pricing. (Remember, this is what my professor said, not my opinion.)
We belong to Costco and BJs. We first had memberships in them through Robert’s job (he had them, his second card was given to the fellow who taught cooking and ran the cafeteria). Not sure if we would belong to Sam’s Club if there was one to go to or not. There is one all the way out in the next county and when it opened we took a trip out – it was disappointing compared to the other two and Walmart.
Yes, we thought it was stupid to pay for the membership. (Fair notice – this laptop was recently purchased at Costco – there is an additional one year warranty as a result plus there is a 800 number to call for help with electronics. Returns on computers are 90 days – for most items there is no end date to when one can return.
We go weekly to both stores. We first go to Costco. We have lunch – indulgent slice of pizza each and a soda to share runs us, including sales tax, $4.99 for pretty good pizza, even to my Italian husband. If he has a hot dog instead of pizza, the soda comes with his hot dog and it costs us $3.79. We then walk around – depending on what is offered, we have the free samples. We watch the “shows” (production demonstrations). Most weeks we do not buy anything. We don’t buy a lot of food there as the packages are too large, but there are some items. We also buy papergoods there. (I may not need to buy bathroom paper cups ever again.) We buy some of our vitamins there. We had our photos taken there for our MTA senior discount cards – and will also do so when we need passport photos again in a few years. Large plastic boxes – better and cheaper than other stores. Batteries – best price and if one waits for a sale even better. Our car is losing oil – it is a known problem with it, except to Chevy and better price on oil than Walmart which was the best we had found before. So we figure the $60 cost comes to $1.15 a week (for 50 weeks), which is not a bad cost for a discounted lunch, snacks, entertainment and a place to walk around – plus sometimes buy something. Oh, and my reenactment unit needed new checks – credit union wants $45 for about $100 – duplicate checks through Costco are around $18 for twice as many!
We have bought gas at Costco when traveling. The Costco with a gas station here is too far to go to. So, after our visit to Costco, we stop up the street at Bjs and buy gas – today we event bought food on a special trip to BJs (very near us -not the one we go to to gas up the car). We then go to a larger Walmart (they are planning to turn it into an actual SuperWalmart – but we have heard that before about other WMs ) where we have a found a parking spot that is level so we can let the car sit there for 15 minutes plus to check if we need to add oil.
When we lived in the wrong part of town while my wife went to graduate school, I was amazed to discover how much worse the local Thriftway supermarket was to what you get in more affluent areas. The prices were higher, the selection worse, the service deplorable, the store old, dirty and in disrepair. And the only reason for it I could see was disdain for the poorer people who comprised its clientele. I had a similar experience with a Shaw’s on the wrong side of the tracks in New England (it was known locally as “Scary Shaw’s”) where I had to agitate and complain mightily to get my money back on a carton of Orange Juice that was bad — they actually were giving me grief about the consumed portion, they wanted to pro-rate it or something — even though Shaw’s had a no questions asked satisfaction guarantee! They not only sold me spoiled Orange Juice (“This OJ was unrefrigerated for 6 hours” “send it to the poor section of town, they don’t complain!”), they then gave me all kinds of pushback on their “no questions asked” satisfaction policy! OK, so maybe the juice is spoiled, but you drank some of it! Like, what, they were going to try and resell it?
It was in the ghetto Thriftway era that I discovered my first Aldi in the US — a couple blocks deeper into the bad neighborhood, Aldi had set up. This was their strategy, to purposely go into underserved poor areas, and eat the other stores’ lunch, dinner, breakfast, and milk money. Plus they had hard to find German Christmas cookies, imported from Germany, dirt cheap.
Even if I hadn’t already been a fan of Aldi, boy I sure would be after that time. Screw you Thriftway! The only downside to their strategy was that it didn’t look like we would ever get an Aldi near us now, because our area wasn’t poor enough, but they’ve grown so much that they can come to richer areas now… (Or is my town become poor and I just haven’t noticed, like the boiled frog?)
” the only reason for it I could see was disdain for the poorer people who comprised its clientele.”
Higher shrinkage losses.
“Plus they had hard to find German Christmas cookies, imported from Germany, dirt cheap.”
I didn’t know that – now I see that we have an Aldi six miles away and I’m going there to see what they have in imported Christmas cookies. I’m looking for vanillin sugar, which is also imported from Germany, so maybe they’ll have it. Thanks!
It might be a bit late in the season, unfortunately, depending on the Aldi. They tend to do weekly specials of items totally unrelated from the previous week, and the Christmas cookies were featured at the beginning of December….
Lidl has a similar business model to Aldi, and they are now also expanding into the US, so if you have one, check there, too (Lidl is also German).
I will note on my calendar to check next year!
Looks like they’re on the East Coast down to Georgia; I’m on the west coast of Florida. Maybe someday . . .
larK,
When I did a google search for “lidl near me” it showed me all the Aldi locations in Chicago. Is lidl a subsidiary?
Chak, more likely Google is “helping” you and assuming you didn’t really want to search for just the terms you asked for. It used to ask if you meant some other word rather than one that get only a few hits. Now it just throws them in regardless.
What Arthur said. Lidl is a competitor that copied Aldi (though a lot of times I find they actually surpass Aldi…) Aldi has been expanding in the US for a number of years (decades, really), and Lidl seems only recently to have come to the US; for now they are centered on the East coast of the US, spreading outwards from Virginia. (This discussion actually prompted me to go out to the nearest US Lidl this evening to see what it was like; I hadn’t realized they had spread to within a half hour from me…)
Were there any cookies????
@Arthur, I hated that Google (and competitor) “We know what you’re searching for better than you” thing, and I hate it more every time it makes my actual search impossible.
Funny (at least to me) psychology. I instinctively want Aldi and LIdl to be inferior to US-owned supermarkets. I can feel it happening in my head.
Yet I work for an England-based company myself and I’m proud of the job we do. Interesting watching from one brain center as other brain centers fight it out.
carlfink, after Google has misunderstood your search, hit “verbatim” to tell it, “Use MY search, not what you think I meant.”
Someone uploaded a moving gif to help people find “verbatim”:
Andréa: they had some, a sufficient selection, but not an overwhelmingly great selection, but good enough for this close to xmas. I got a marzipan log, not quite the kind I wanted, but better than nothing. (The main reason I went was for the weekly special of thermo tea glasses — I’d bought a set in Germany (and I honestly can’t remember if it was Lidl or Aldi), and I’ve since broken two of the three, and it turned out I really liked them, so a replacement set was too much for me to resist…)
I LOOOVE marzipan – REAL marzipan. If I want anything Dutch, like candy or cookies, I have to order from here – http://dutchsweets.com/ – and you can imagine the postage costs (even tho it comes from, I believe, Canada).
Well, you should definitely check out that Aldi that’s only six miles from you — I didn’t mean my comment to discourage you, only to warn you that they might not have much of a selection this close to the end of the season. They tend to have Spekulatius cookies most of the time (these were the kind that back in the day were impossible to find, and Aldi in the ghetto had one pound bags for like $1.99), they also have imported chocolate covered biscuits as a regular item, along with imported afternoon tea type cookies. The Pfeffernüsse and Lebkuchen and Marzipan they tend to get only in November/December, with the selection going up (multiple kinds/brands of Spekulatius and Lebkuchen) toward the middle of that time period, and then dropping off the closer you get to xmas. It is of course moot for me because I discovered a couple years ago that those cookies cause me abdominal discomfort. :-(
Foods of my childhood. I plan to go there tomorrow, or if not then, after Christmas. Who knows; there may be something left.
Might you have developed a nut allergy? At 65, Hubby did . . . altho I do NOT understand how a NUT allergy develops for peanuts, which isn’t a nut, and then segues into tree nut allergy. In any case, all those cookies are now mine alone, and I no longer can make his fave pie, Bourbon Chocolate Chip Pecan, altho I might try making one without the pecans, just the mixture and the bourbon & chocolate chips.
I had heard of Aldi’s. I had seen one from the Interstate driving somewhere, but had never been in one. I know that people love them.
We had one open in the next county near where we were eating dinner at the time (place we ate at closed) and we stopped in. I could not believe how disappointing it was. I understand the concept of saving money for the company by not having display shelves, etc, but what they had was so limited I could not even find anything we normally buy. We figured maybe it was that they were new and stopped in again a few times afterwards – same thing. Unless one wanted cereal or other carbohydrate items (cake mixes, cookies, macaroni…) there was nothing there.
One opened on the main highway in Lancaster, PA either last year or the year before that. Knowing that many stores are different on LI than they are elsewhere, we stopped in one afternoon. It was slightly bigger, but basically the same. This one did have a small meat case – all items seemed to be beef.
I am sorry, I just don’t get what we are missing about Aldi’s as everyone seems to love it so much.
That is not much like the Aldi stores in St. Louis.
There are two separate Aldi chains in Germany: Aldi “North” and “South”. The stores themselves are virtually identical, but the geographic separation makes a detailed comparison difficult. I have no idea how the American “Aldi” stores compare to the German parents.
The primary (or rather “only”) advantage of shopping at Aldi is price. Virtually everything sold is packaged under plain-wrap or special brands found only there, and nowhere else. The quality is uniformly acceptable, but not exceptional. This is particularly true for candy (especially chocolate), cereals, and cookies. When our kids come back from Halloween, stuff from Aldi usually forms a fairly large portion of their loot. While it is sweet, and the kids will eat most of it, I’ve never seen anything that I would prefer to buy at Aldi, even if it is marginally cheaper there.
I used to go to a nearby Aldi occasionally to stock up on unsalted peanuts and (occasionally) sturdy, no-frills trash bags. Then they stopped carrying both (or maybe just were all out of both for three or four times in a row), so I’ve not been in one now for the last five or six years.
American Aldi is part of Aldi Süd. I don’t know why, but I prefer Aldi Süd to Aldi Nord, even though in the end, they are basically the same — it’s something about the presentation.
The big advantage of Aldi in the US for me is that they HAVE German cookies, chocolate, etc.; that they are cheap is an added bonus. Yes, they might not be as good as the best you can get in Germany, but they are better than the nothing you normally can get here. If I lived in Germany to the point that the novelty wore off of being able to get all these things I can’t normally get, I probably would give Aldi a miss, at least as far as chocolate and sweets go.
On the other hand, they have been moving away from the pure non-frills for a while now. The stores are slowly getting updated to be more luxurious, they are adding more and more “premium” lines of product; heck, they even accept credit cards now!
The other thing that keeps me coming back to Aldi (and Lidl, etc.) are the weekly specials, especially when I’m in Germany. In the US it’s a chance to get certain stuff that is all made in China anyway much cheaper than elsewhere (Bullet blenders, we got one virtually identical to the as-seen-on-TV one for like 20 bucks vs the 50 or whatever the name brand one was; silicon baking mats, the Silpat ones are like $20, the in every way comparable Aldi ones were $3 (I’ve baked through a Silpat, so I have direct comparison)); the only thing is you have to wait for the stuff to come around again, you can’t just buy it whenever you want. That’s a psychological trick, keeps you coming back to the store… In Germany, the weekly stuff is stuff that you typically can’t find in the US, at any price. Just the different consumer mentality makes the products different, and I have a European mentality, so to see the stuff available, and cheap! It’s great! Still mourning the loss of one of the pair of grey wool Thinsulate lined gloves I bought at Aldi or Lidl in Germany two years ago for €3 — €3! — I left it accidentally behind in Iceland as a Karma price for nagging my mother to not lose her gloves…
I find it interesting that Lidl in the US is trying to place itself as a more eclectic, high class store, not the no-frills ripping-off-Aldi of its roots. Aldi stores in the US use the German system of putting a coin in the shopping cart to make you return the carts to save on having to hire people to do it — it worked fine 20 years ago when they were the better alternative in ghettos to the local Thriftway, but as they move to more affluent areas, the people don’t understand the system, and bitch mightily about it. Lidl in the States has totally forgone that, so they have employees roaming the parking lots. Their stores are all newly built, very glass and airy and modern looking. I don’ think they are even bothering with the “serve the under-served poor areas” that was Aldi’s model in the US for the past 30 years…
There is a very good Freakonomics that is basically a love letter to Trader Joe’s (Trader Joe’s is owned by Aldi, and run very much according to the same principles as their eponymous stores):
http://freakonomics.com/podcast/trader-joes/
One of my favorite things to get at Aldi are the goat cheese logs. they roll them in either blueberries or cranberries and they are just amazing. but they are also only available at certain times.
Some things at Aldi aren’t that much better price than the supermarkets, some are substantially better. Example, the heavy whipping cream at mine is $1.99/pint, the equivalent at the supermarket is about $4. For a time, milk was that way. It was about $2/gallon versus $4. Lately, Aldi milk has crept up and the supermarket down so that they’re closer. Aldi still wins.
The produce section is fairly small, but expanded when they renovated the stores recently. Lately they’ve been having bagged “flat-leaf” spinach for .99/8 oz. It’s a good product and a good price. Unfortunately, a lot of the meat, chicken and pork particularly, is “enhanced” with “solution”. I don’t buy that. The vacuum-packed beef is not.
A lot depends on the sales at the various stores. And what Aldi runs out of. Stock can be a problem, especially with sales, and there are no “rain checks” there.
Aldi Nord also has an American presence. They own Trader Joe’s. This is handy for me, because we can get a few Trader Joe’s brand things year round, most notably tortillas. A couple of times a year, they have “American week” and have a lot of other TJ products, like roasted onions and bagels. We were talking about blueberry juice a while back and they carry TJ blueberry juice during those weeks. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it in the US, though. they’re enough cheaper than the major chain supermarket next door, that I usually hit Aldi first, then go to the supermarket for whatever Aldi didn’t have.
The reason Germany has two different Aldi’s is that the sons of the founder couldn’t agree on a power-sharing structure when they inherited and so they split the company and divided territories.
Fitting that I put a greengrocer’s apostrophe in that post.
The Aldi’s I have seen have been in middle class areas here on LI and ditto in Lancaster, PA. The first one I saw- only while driving past – in Lancaster – well over a decade ago – was on the edge of Lancaster City (as opposed to the larger Lancaster County it is in) on Rte 501 just about where it joins in a V with Rte 222, below Rte 30. The newer one – which is on Rte 30 in a shopping center in the middle of the tourist area – is the one we stopped in.
Lidl seemed familiar to me. They have recently bought a small chain of supermarkets around here named Best Buy – they are a higher price, smaller store chain.
King Kullen – the first self serve supermarket (per them – not sure how Piggly Wiggly fits into same) has just been bought out by Stop and Shop out of Boston (same Dutch co owner as Giant Food and Lion among others). Most of the local Stop and Shops used to be a individually owned stores that were under the name Foodtown. (The name has returned on at least one supermarket in the area) Stop and Shop and other markets have recently purchased individual stores that were Pathmark and Walmart (no longer A&Ps here) which were previously owned by the A&P chain before it went under.
So we have gone from maybe around 10 different chains of supermarkets to 3 or 4 of them in the past decade or so.