mcmeekle said:

If Thailand is anything to go by it'll be sooner than 5 years that Tesco will surpass Carrefour. It seems Tesco are expanding massively overseas. Certainly here Carrefour aren't building any new stores, while Big C are still expanding a little, but Tesco are putting up new supermarkets every few months. Now they're opening all these Tesco Express stores and the once all-conquering 7-11 are in serious jeopardy. There's one every 100 metres in Bangkok, but they can't compete with Tesco's low prices. They've even been charged with selling under cost price here before.

Fauxie said:

Tesco in the UK is a monster. They reckon one pound in every eight spent is spent in Tesco!

I'd run to the hills, but there's a Tesco Express there!

missmad said:

That was my reaction too.

psychodelicide said:

I was very happy about that .

Its so funny to see you describe Aldi Nancy.

We don't have them out here (Tesco has taken over), but I've done some shopping in Aldi and Lidl when I was in the UK. I think if you just choose what you're buying very carefully you can get some very good deals. I just could never see me doing all my food shopping there. Sometimes the food appears to be not on a shelf so much as in an open cage. That makes me suspicious.

mcmeekle said:

If Thailand is anything to go by it'll be sooner than 5 years that Tesco will surpass Carrefour. It seems Tesco are expanding massively overseas. Certainly here Carrefour aren't building any new stores, while Big C are still expanding a little, but Tesco are putting up new supermarkets every few months. Now they're opening all these Tesco Express stores and the once all-conquering 7-11 are in serious jeopardy. There's one every 100 metres in Bangkok, but they can't compete with Tesco's low prices. They've even been charged with selling under cost price here before.

the trolley charge is to stop trollies being left in car parks, returning them to the store. and to stop them going "walkies"

in theory

IRL, ppl are lazy and cant be bothered returning them 4 25c

Kmart here used to charge $2 (i think). that made them return them

728huey said:

Yeah that's just a deposit and here in continental Europe 99% of the supermarkets have that system. And what you say about just getting basic staples there was very true for our Aldis and Hofers (as they are called in Austria) until some years ago. Today nearly all their products are good quality, sometimes even a lot better than the ones from other more expensive supermarkets. But of course it might be different for the ones outside Europe.

prb said:

$2?? Holy cow!

I don't know if any of you have those Aldi grocery stores in your area, but they recently built one that is about 15 minutes away from my house. There was something that I saw in their Sunday flier that I was interested in looking at, so yesterday, I drove out to Aldi's to check it out.

The first thing that struck me odd about this store is that the shopping carts are all locked together. You have to pay 25 cents to be able to use a grocery cart in their store. I didn't know this until I pulled on a cart so that I could take it into the store, and discovered that it was locked. Another gentlemen who was there told me, "You get your 25 cents back." I was like, "Uh uh, no thanks!" and went into the store without a cart. I can't believe that they actually charge people to use a shopping cart, like you're renting it from them. WTH kind of nonsense is that? I guess they're afraid that people will steal them or something.

I walked into the store, and immediately did not like it. It had a warehouse look about it, and I was not even able to find the item that I was thinking about buying. They had a limited selection of items, and the items that they did have were made by companies that I had never even heard of before!

After walking around for about 10 minutes, I decided that I had wasted enough time, and left the store, with the store flier in my hand. An older lady stopped me and asked me if she could borrow the flier. I told her she could have it to keep, since the item that I came looking for was not in the store. She told me, "You can always get a rain check." I looked at her, made a face, and said, "No thanks." That was another thing I noticed, almost everybody who was shopping in that store were older, in their 70s and 80s. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but usually a grocery store has a wide variation of different ages shopping there. I guess the older people don't mind buying never-heard-of-before brands, and with them living on limited income, they probably feel like they're getting more bang for their buck.

Overall, a very disappointing experience, but at least I know now not to go there anymore. I would rather stick to Trader Joe's, or another well-known grocery chain here in town, thank you very much. I wonder if all of the Aldi's are this bad? I imagine they probably are, and wonder how long they will even stay in business, with the economy being as bad as it is.

Wow I guess I'm the only one that shops there.... like often. I think we Americans are just conditioned on brands and location. The produce is sketchy, I go to the regular stores for that, but everything else I buy there.

The wine is shit, though. Man did I get a gut rotten hangover from a bottle of wine. Must've been very cheap quality...of course.

At first I didn't like it, but now that I know the layout, I am in and out. There are less bells and whistles to distract me and make me buy more shit. It saves my budget.

The same amount for $300 of food is about $120, when I really stock up. A normal trip is $80 every two weeks. Regular groceries would cost me 150. We just bought a house. Every penny counts.

I. LOVE. ALDI!

I've started making my lunches and dinners for the week on Sunday (yea, I'm lame) and I can get all my food for $20 or less!!

It's fantastic, like a cheap person's dream come true

I don't mind that it's not so pretty, or that I have to bring my own bags (helps the environment)

I can get most of what I need there, and if there is a specialty item they don;t have, I go to Trader Joe's or something

Serious said:

I think it's the same for the ones here - I love Aldi!

I have never heard of this store,but it almost sounds like Cosco. You don't have to pay for the cart,but you have to pay...I believe it was $45 to become a Cosco member. You have to show them your card on the way in or you don't get to go in,unless you are signing up for membership. That play is HUGE.
[Edited 2/17/09 21:07pm]

psychodelicide said:

not 4 long- the natives got mad

applekisses said:

Either I missed something, or the Aldi's by you is a heck of a lot better than the one in my area.

Here's the Web site:


http://www.aldifoods.com/...U_HTML.htm


Some of their items are not very good quality, but most are - and they're much less expensive than the regular grocery store. I like their dairy products, popsicles, cleaning products, crackers/snack goods and turkey bacon. Oh, and their beer is surprisingly good!

I also get all my baking supplies there - you know, for holidays and such. And...their canned goods are great.
[Edited 2/18/09 7:00am]

Thanks for the link. Maybe I just need to check out a different Aldi's, see if my opinon changes.

psychodelicide said:

Maybe you should just give it a second try.

the trolley charge is to stop trollies being left in car parks, returning them to the store. and to stop them going "walkies"

in theory

IRL, ppl are lazy and cant be bothered returning them 4 25c

Kmart here used to charge $2 (i think). that made them return them

Serious said:

I'm seriously considering it. There seems to be a number of Aldi's around. Maybe a different store will change my mind.

prb said:

Aldi charge $2 here and yes, it is so they don't have to pay a trolley boy

I buy nappies, bread, flour, eggs, sugar, lite beer, vodka, cola, corn flakes, tampons, diced tomatoes, milk and chocolates there. For kids parties the lollies and chips are great.

It isn't a supermarket so much, you get what you need but still go somewhere else for all the rest. I won't buy fresh produce there - asian grocers are still cheaper where I live

psychodelicide said:

It's simply a different concept in shopping. You know generic brands in normal supermarkets? Think of Aldi as a store that sells those exclusively.

ZombieKitten said:

That's a good synopsis.

psychodelicide said:

and most of their goods are manufactured by the same companies that supply to the brands you know, repackaged under the Aldi "brands"