Has anyone ever shopped here before? I just read an article that said they are going full organic at the start of the new year.

Ive never been but am intrigued.

I have and it is different. No baggers or free bags; either bring you own bags or buy theirs. You can rent a cart for a quarter and when you return if to the carousel you get your quarter back. Admitted being a Military retiree and living just outside a base I do the vast majority of my shopping at the Commissary.

(11-11-2016, 12:54 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Has anyone ever shopped here before? I just read an article that said they are going full organic at the start of the new year.

Ive never been but am intrigued.

Jeez, you got Aldi?

If the sortiment is any similar to what it is here, try out the red wines and the deep-frozen steaks. And stay away from the vegetables.
Then again, I have no idea if it's similar to here. Here it's cheap.

(11-11-2016, 05:33 PM)hollodero Wrote: Jeez, you got Aldi?

If the sortiment is any similar to what it is here, try out the red wines and the deep-frozen steaks. And stay away from the vegetables.
Then again, I have no idea if it's similar to here. Here it's cheap.

Solid advice. It is cheap, and apparently many of the brands that sell there for cheap sell in their sister stores for a premium price. Brand X is double the price in the 'burbs because if I have never heard of it it must be great. Brand X is half the price in the ghetto because if I have never heard of it it must be BoBo generic. I've always found their produce suspect, but some bargains are to be had.

The house I live at and the one I used to live at both have Aldis near them but I've never been to one. I went through their catalog once and everything had similar packaging to regular products but would have a different name like "Cheez Bits" instead of "Cheez Its" if I remember right.

(11-11-2016, 05:59 PM)xxlt Wrote: Solid advice. It is cheap, and apparently many of the brands that sell there for cheap sell in their sister stores for a premium price. Brand X is double the price in the 'burbs because if I have never heard of it it must be great. Brand X is half the price in the ghetto because if I have never heard of it it must be BoBo generic. I've always found their produce suspect, but some bargains are to be had.

Well... obviously I do not know too much about "Brand X" and other things. I can say this. Of all "cheap" supermarkets, Aldi (we call it "Hofer" here, btw.) is the one with the most reliable product quality here, excluding bread and vegetables. And I remember the Californian red wines they used to offer very cheaply. Love that stuff (which is a bad thing for an European).

- Does BoBo mean the same in the US as it does here? Bourgeois Bohemien? The casual prosperous?

I haven't shopped at an Aldi in quite some time. As I remember, there was great savings, but the quality of a lot of their items was pretty suspect. I think we ended up throwing out about half of what we bought there, because we didn't care for it.

However, that was some 15 years ago. They may have drastically improved since I last went there.

(11-11-2016, 06:15 PM)hollodero Wrote: Well... obviously I do not know too much about "Brand X" and other things. I can say this. Of all "cheap" supermarkets, Aldi (we call it "Hofer" here, btw.) is the one with the most reliable product quality here, excluding bread and vegetables. And I remember the Californian red wines they used to offer very cheaply. Love that stuff (which is a bad thing for an European).

- Does BoBo mean the same in the US as it does here? Bourgeois Bohemien? The casual prosperous?

The store in the US that sells the cheap, but drinkable wines is called Trader Joe's.

(11-11-2016, 06:15 PM)hollodero Wrote: Well... obviously I do not know too much about "Brand X" and other things. I can say this. Of all "cheap" supermarkets, Aldi (we call it "Hofer" here, btw.) is the one with the most reliable product quality here, excluding bread and vegetables. And I remember the Californian red wines they used to offer very cheaply. Love that stuff (which is a bad thing for an European).

- Does BoBo mean the same in the US as it does here? Bourgeois Bohemien? The casual prosperous?

Bobo is sort of a generic clown name - that is the association I have w it anyway. I like your take on it though.

(11-11-2016, 12:54 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Has anyone ever shopped here before? I just read an article that said they are going full organic at the start of the new year.

Ive never been but am intrigued.

No shit story here. I was shopping at Aldi and I placed a head of lettuce on the conveyer to check out. A friggen frog jumped out of the lettuce as the cashier lady was grabbing it. She didn't flinch and continued like it was nothing. I however, was like "Daaaaaaaaamn!"

The cashier asked if I wanted another head "not kidding but she was ugly and didn't see any humor in making that a joke" so I replied, "no, I'll just wash this one.

(11-12-2016, 09:18 PM)xxlt Wrote: Bobo is sort of a generic clown name - that is the association I have w it anyway. I like your take on it though.

I can give it to you (my take I mean), but I guess you might find it boring. A Bobo to me is not a clown, and Bobos wouldn't shop at Aldi. I wikipediad the word's origin. The word as I use it stems from the New York Times and describes a new kind of upper class people.
Here that means - those who want to stay generic and down to earth by behaving as though they were working class people. That are left, full of idealistic ideas, obsessively casual, but then again they percieve themselves as smarter, more important, more meaningful beings that are just too modest to show it. They are widely hated. Economically because they tend to overtake some low-class areas and lifestyles and therefore making them more expensive, while then again shopping at fancy places (think Whole Foods) and feeling proud about themselves and wondering why all the other dumb people don't get their meat from special happy biological cows at ten times the cost. And personally because they are smartasses who never would deviate from their opinion the tiniest bit no matter how dumb, easily refuted, narrow-minded and arrogant that opinion is, and treating their own verbal effluxions as if the words came directly from Mount Wisdom.
 
These people.
Not a fan.

(11-12-2016, 09:48 PM)hollodero Wrote: I can give it to you (my take I mean), but I guess you might find it boring. A Bobo to me is not a clown, and Bobos wouldn't shop at Aldi. I wikipediad the word's origin. The word as I use it stems from the New York Times and describes a new kind of upper class people.
Here that means - those who want to stay generic and down to earth by behaving as though they were working class people. That are left, full of idealistic ideas, obsessively casual, but then again they percieve themselves as smarter, more important, more meaningful beings that are just too modest to show it. They are widely hated. Economically because they tend to overtake some low-class areas and lifestyles and therefore making them more expensive, while then again shopping at fancy places (think Whole Foods) and feeling proud about themselves and wondering why all the other dumb people don't get their meat from special happy biological cows at ten times the cost. And personally because they are smartasses who never would deviate from their opinion the tiniest bit no matter how dumb, easily refuted, narrow-minded and arrogant that opinion is, and treating their own verbal effluxions as if the words came directly from Mount Wisdom.
 
These people.
Not a fan.

I looked the word up too, lol and saw the surprising reference to David Brooks of the NYT, who was credited with advancing if not coining the phrase as well as sort of calling himself one. I just call him a tool. Interesting that I had never heard the phrase and thought it was something from your local community, then I look it up and find out it is part of the lexicon in many communities. Cheers!

(11-12-2016, 09:26 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: No shit story here. I was shopping at Aldi and I placed a head of lettuce on the conveyer to check out. A friggen frog jumped out of the lettuce as the cashier lady was grabbing it. She didn't flinch and continued like it was nothing. I however, was like "Daaaaaaaaamn!"

The cashier asked if I wanted another head "not kidding but she was ugly and didn't see any humor in making that a joke" so I replied, "no, I'll just wash this one.

Lol are you serious? That seals it, never going to Aldi. 

I never have, but the lady does regularly and loves it.

Their generics of name brand items are hit and miss, but they have some decent beers and some great cheap wines. Like $3 bottles that we'll take to places and people kill it and don't touch the pricier and more common bottles that are there already.

An interesting fact about Aldi is that there prices vary by location based on the income of the community. While Kroger has the same prices anywhere you go here in Richmond, the same box of cereal in my local Aldi will cost more than the same cereal in the Aldi in a low income neighborhood.

(11-12-2016, 09:26 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: No shit story here. I was shopping at Aldi and I placed a head of lettuce on the conveyer to check out. A friggen frog jumped out of the lettuce as the cashier lady was grabbing it. She didn't flinch and continued like it was nothing. I however, was like "Daaaaaaaaamn!"

The cashier asked if I wanted another head "not kidding but she was ugly and didn't see any humor in making that a joke" so I replied, "no, I'll just wash this one.

So, you got food and a pet in one trip.  Win-win  :andy:

(11-14-2016, 10:21 AM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Lol are you serious? That seals it, never going to Aldi. 

Yes but don't let that story steer you away. They have great deals. Just check your produce and you will be good. These things happen often, but are mostly caught before it hits the shelves or floor.

(11-14-2016, 09:49 PM)Awful Llama Wrote: So, you got food and a pet in one trip.  Win-win  :andy:

Nope didn't keep it. Hehe.

(11-14-2016, 10:02 PM)HarleyDog Wrote: Yes but don't let that story steer you away. They have great deals. Just check your produce and you will be good. These things happen often, but are mostly caught before it hits the shelves or floor.


Nope didn't keep it. Hehe.

You could have had fresh frog's legs for free!

(11-14-2016, 10:09 PM)jfkbengals Wrote: You could have had fresh frog's legs for free!

Never thought of it as a blessing. Another one of Gods gifts I let pass by!

(11-11-2016, 06:39 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: The store in the US that sells the cheap, but drinkable wines is called Trader Joe's.

Fun fact, Trader Joe's is essentially Aldi as well. Aldi is split up in Europe into Aldi North and Aldi South. They kind of split Germany, and then the rest of Europe, based on location. Here in the US. Aldi North is run as Trader Joe's and Aldi South as Aldi.

I like them both, but I can only ever shop at them when elsewhere since the closest one of either is an hour drive away. So I can't use them for my regular shopping, or I would. Aldi has purchased land in my city recently, though there is no word as of yet as to what is happening there. I am a member of a board that is a part of Planning and Zoning, so I try to keep my ear out for news.

I'm kinda looking forward to Lidl's move into the US as well.

It's been a while since I've shopped there. When I was young, married, and broke we checked it out a couple of times. If I remember correctly, the advice of steering clear of the produce is solid advice. I do remember getting good deals on canned goods though. Never shopped there for wine though.