Aldi’s Is Beloved and Now Organic. Wow!

Meet the only store that Wal-Mart fears….Aldi.   The German-owned chain of small grocery stores has a lot of reasons behind their spectacularly low prices, and a story today on a foodie blog called forthemammas.com explained some of them.  It starts with the size of the stores…none of them giant caverns like Target or Wal-Mart. And the number of employees–it takes just three or four and they do everything-multitasking on shelf stocking, cashiers, taking out the trash….everybody does everything.

But what about the quality?  According to some studies it’s virtually the same as what you’d buy in Stop and Shop, it’s just made for Aldi’s with their branding, in the same factories.  But one difference is that on Aldi’s products the bar codes are much larger, and in several places.  So the check outs are faster.  They also use cartons that match the look of the boxes in side, so all they have to do is cut them open, not them all out of a corrugated box and flatten the box.

One beef Mary and my cousin Steve had about Aldi’s was the lack of organic produce and products. BUT NOW THEY ARE LAUNCHING their own organic line too! What’s not to love?]

Another thing about the business is that the German family who runs the stores never finances their new locations. They pay cash for everything and don’t carry mortgages. They also get deliveries every day that include produce, so everything is newer and fresher. Ninety percent of Aldi’s products are made in the USA, which is a high figure for any store.

So there you have it…and just remember to bring your plastic bags to Aldi’s and a quarter to rent the shopping cart the next time you need organic food–cheap!