Up-front full disclosure: I’m a Fresh & Easy refugee who has fallen head-over-heels in love with ALDI. That said, I would never hope their competition would go out of business. Cavernous food emporiums with a pharmacy, a hot deli, a butcher and a mini bank branch aren’t my cup o’ tea. I’ll drop in if I need those things. I buy as much as I can at ALDI and get what I can’t somewhere else. As ALDI stores open here in The IE (Inland Empire; Riverside/San Bernardino counties), the reviews on Yelp seem to be falling into a pattern: The closer the ALDI is to a Stater Bros., Albertson’s, Ralphs or Vons, the more similar the negative reviews, almost as if the writers are following a bullet-point list. Except where noted, the quotes are composites of several reviews for several ALDI locations:
1. Since ALDI is German-owned, equate the experience with the DDR: “The stores have more in common with Eastern Bloc food rationing centers than a cheerful American supermarket: small, dim, dreary, no MUZAK, dirty.”
2. Claim ALDI’s fully documented cost-reduction features (https://www.aldi.us/en/new-to-aldi/shopping-at-aldi/) are undisclosed gotchas: “You have to put a quarter in the cart and the cashier sits on his/her lazy butt while you put your groceries on the belt and bag them yourself in bags you have to buy because they didn’t tell you you have to bring your own, and then you have to return the cart to get your quarter back!”
3. Make outlandish claims about the house brands: “I didn’t buy anything because it’s all generic off-brand CRAP that’s not even good enough for Dollar Tree and 99 Cents Only Stores.”
4. Attack potential clientele: “If you want to save money while being treated like dirt and risking your family’s health with off-brand foods, ALDI is the place for YOU!”
5. Conjecture or even wish ALDI goes out of business (actual quote): “As a resident of Rancho Cucamonga hopefully Aldi (sic) won't be successful.”
On the east coast, Giant Eagle tried to compete head-to-head with ALDI and failed with its Good Cents stores but the tone of the Yelp reviews are more often “I buy as much as I can at ALDI and get what I can’t from Giant Eagle.”
1. Since ALDI is German-owned, equate the experience with the DDR: “The stores have more in common with Eastern Bloc food rationing centers than a cheerful American supermarket: small, dim, dreary, no MUZAK, dirty.”
2. Claim ALDI’s fully documented cost-reduction features (https://www.aldi.us/en/new-to-aldi/shopping-at-aldi/) are undisclosed gotchas: “You have to put a quarter in the cart and the cashier sits on his/her lazy butt while you put your groceries on the belt and bag them yourself in bags you have to buy because they didn’t tell you you have to bring your own, and then you have to return the cart to get your quarter back!”
3. Make outlandish claims about the house brands: “I didn’t buy anything because it’s all generic off-brand CRAP that’s not even good enough for Dollar Tree and 99 Cents Only Stores.”
4. Attack potential clientele: “If you want to save money while being treated like dirt and risking your family’s health with off-brand foods, ALDI is the place for YOU!”
5. Conjecture or even wish ALDI goes out of business (actual quote): “As a resident of Rancho Cucamonga hopefully Aldi (sic) won't be successful.”
On the east coast, Giant Eagle tried to compete head-to-head with ALDI and failed with its Good Cents stores but the tone of the Yelp reviews are more often “I buy as much as I can at ALDI and get what I can’t from Giant Eagle.”
