ALDI FOODS

[JimSawhill]

What happened to Sussman's?

The family got out of the grocery biz a long time ago, but they have other business ventures. They own commercial and residential real estate. They own the plaza in New Britain where their store used to be that is now an Aldi. (The plaza is losing its Dunkin' Donuts soon). They own the plaza in Berlin (Kensington) where their store used to be, which is now vacant. They own an apartment complex on Stanley Street in New Britain.

Just like the Bever family did in the Tampa Bay area..They owned the defunct U-Save chain, now they are mostly shopping center operator (Most of the shopping centers had U-Save in in it, now the centers have Aldi or Save A Lot or Bravo...One is a Big Lots and another is a fitness center....they still have retailing... convenience stores called Handy...

[TheFugitive]

Learned another little secret about Aldi Foods.

I stopped by there last night to do some shopping on the way home.
This morning I could not find my office keys.  I had apparently dropped them
while in the store.

Picked up my phone and started surfing for the phone number of the local store.
After several minutes was unable to find it.   I called 411 and they connected me to some
toll-free "855" number, which was a recording announcing to me that....

...due to our streamlined efficiency process, which allows us to provide lower prices to you,
the individual phone numbers of all Aldi stores are unlisted."

So I had to go down, sit in the parking lot until 9AM when they opened to go in
and get my keys.   Made me late for work.

Ordinarily I am a great admirer of their "streamlined efficiency process", but in this case
I believe they outsmarted themselves.

[mixedday]

Marlton, NJ has both a Trader Joe's and Aldi, but the two are at opposite ends of town. A former Genuardi's near the Trader Joe's is becoming a gourmet family-owned supermarket soon but I forget the name of it. This Genuardi's closed very soon after the Super Fresh in Marlton also closed. It's so weird the two coexisted for so long and closed at the same time. This Super Fresh was very small, out of date, and run down by the time it closed. Before Super Fresh it was one of the last A&P stores opened in the southern half of NJ before A&P left the area, open from 1975 to 1982.

The Marlton Aldi and Marlton Trader Joes are fairly close. They are on different roads, however. The Marlton retail area is pretty small actually, and it's quite easy to drive from Aldi to Trader Joes and vice versa.

Bottom Dollar Food also had a location in Marlton, but Aldi didn't need it because it had a freestanding built from ground up store that it opened not too long prior in a plaza with Staples (which was there for many years). Even if Aldi didn't have that location built, I'm not sure Aldi would have assumed Bottom Dollar's location. Crispin Square, where Bottom Dollar Food was anchor, is off smaller roads more tucked near residential areas. I figured it was a rather strange location for Bottom Dollar Food. I think it was an IGA many years ago, but it sat vacant for a long time. Now again, it's vacant and might be for a long time, although a Dollar General or Family Dollar might fit in there, even though the demographics of the Marlton-Mt.Laurel border area aren't generally fitting with those demographics. Dollar Tree actually lacks a location in Marlton entirely as well, but Dollar Tree might want a more highway accessible and visible location.

[busman_49]

I am familiar with Aldi's. We have one in Huntington. I personally don't like them. They are cheap and their quality is crap. I don't like Save A Lot either! I prefer Kroger or FoodFair.. You honestly get what you pay for with these types of stores.

They're great for food, except their produce isn't the best.  Buyer beware on the rest of the stuff, as tokensafari said.  We've bought pans and knife sets from there.  The pans are good for about a year before they lose their teflon coating and the knives retain water in the handles...you only THOUGHT the knives were dry until you went to put them away...

[TheFugitive]

That is one area where Bottom Dollar did a better job than Aldi......produce.

Bottom Dollar had walk-in refrigerated rooms that kept the produce fresher.
Aldi just dumps them out on pallets near the dairy cases.

Aldi made a mistake in tearing out the refrigerated rooms in the Bottom Dollar
stores they acquired.

[mixedday]

That is one area where Bottom Dollar did a better job than Aldi......produce.

Bottom Dollar had walk-in refrigerated rooms that kept the produce fresher.
Aldi just dumps them out on pallets near the dairy cases.

Aldi made a mistake in tearing out the refrigerated rooms in the Bottom Dollar
stores they acquired.

Were there minimal impact migrations of Bottom Dollar to Aldi, with just that done or a few changes?

I have only been to one Bottom Dollar convert to Aldi store, and it was totally re-done towards Aldi's formatting. This was unlike traditional grocery store replacements.

It was more like Whole Foods moving into a former Pathmark space, Southwest buying AirTran and gutting everything AirTran on the 737 airplanes, where everything was re-done.

I agree that the refrigerated rooms were unique and probably a good feature of Bottom Dollar, but it likely was that Aldi viewed it as an inconsistency towards their model.

[buzz86us]

Aldi is finally going to get real competition in the form of Lidl this year..

[retailisking]

Aldi is finally going to get real competition in the form of Lidl this year..

Lidl stores will be considerably larger than Aldi, which means a deeper selection of product. I think they're going to try to bridge the gap between the hard discounters like Aldi and traditional supermarkets like Kroger.

[JimSawhill]

Aldi is finally going to get real competition in the form of Lidl this year..

Lidl stores will be considerably larger than Aldi, which means a deeper selection of product. I think they're going to try to bridge the gap between the hard discounters like Aldi and traditional supermarkets like Kroger.

Lidl, I hope will go into CT...

[giantsfan2016]

The Aldi in Bristol, Connecticut closed temporarily. They're building an addition onto the building and they're completely gutting and remodeling it. They hope to reopen on September 29th.

[standa]

An ALDI store will be opening in part of the former Toys R Us in Hamden, CT.

[Bdubs]

Aldi is beginning to come down into SE Ct finally. Building one in Groton which is due to open next month, and they will break ground in Waterford once Groton is complete.

[giantsfan2016]

The Aldi in Bristol, Connecticut closed temporarily. They're building an addition onto the building and they're completely gutting and remodeling it. They hope to reopen on September 29th.

The new "supersized" Aldi in Bristol did in fact opened on September 29th.

https://bristolroundup.com/2016/09/30/supersized-aldi-grocery-store-reopens/

[retailisking]

A $1.6 billion expenditure
http://www.theshelbyreport.com/2017/02/08/aldi-remodel-program/

[TheFugitive]

The Aldi store in my neighborhood is practically new.
I imagine we'll be one of the last to get this remodel.

[giantsfan2016]

They have yet to start building the one in Southington, CT. The last few months they've been working the land, putting in pipes, etc. This is going to be a part of a development including Chipotle and Chick Fil A. Now the owner of this developement is looking at redeveloping the adjacent former 7-Eleven and 2 houses (the last 2 on Queen Street) that he owns next to the former 7-Eleven.

[retailisking]

The Aldi store in my neighborhood is practically new.
I imagine we'll be one of the last to get this remodel.

You're probably right; they've been in the US since 1976, so I assume they will focus on their older locations.

[retailisking]

The new logo does away with the box-within-a-box and the stylized "A" is curved at the edges. It's supposed to symbolize their modernization program as well as their move upmarket. The timing of the logo change as Lidl prepares to establish itself in the US can't be ignored, either.

[EddieJ1984]

I think the new logo would look much better without the graidents, which really aren't needed and makes it look outdated already.

[JimSawhill]

They have yet to start building the one in Southington, CT. The last few months they've been working the land, putting in pipes, etc. This is going to be a part of a development including Chipotle and Chick Fil A. Now the owner of this developement is looking at redeveloping the adjacent former 7-Eleven and 2 houses (the last 2 on Queen Street) that he owns next to the former 7-Eleven.

Marc, Southington is getting an Aldi...? Cool...good stores...OBTW, you changed your name again?

[giantsfan2016]

Marc, Southington is getting an Aldi...? Cool...good stores...OBTW, you changed your name again?

Yeah, we're getting an Aldi in Southington. It's going to sell beer too. I did change my name again. I've got a lot going on. Not good. (including a mental break down). Jon made me a moderator on here again in January. After spending a couple months doing maintenance on the forum, I stepped down as a moderator although my name is still listed as a staff member. Jon is pretty much in charge of the forum now. I don't know if any of the other mods are still around. Chris still owns the site and owns the domain, but he's busy with his wife and two kids.

[Kmart4life]

They are growing and our two closest stores stay very busy.

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

The ALDI over by my apartment is getting a big renovation.

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

ALDI Nord & ALDI Süd

[jason83080]

The Aldi over by where I work - Sheffield Village, OH - is getting a complete makeover/expansion. They've added onto the back and removed what was the front entrance area, overhead sign and all. There's a temporary entrance set up on one side - I thought it was closed until I saw someone leaving with bags in her hand - but, wow, whatever's going on must be MASSIVE. It should be very nice when it's finished!

[zonemad96]

The aldi's store near me was put into a former super fresh back in 2012 they completely remodeled the space, the building was gutted and rebuilt on the inside. Four years later in the end of 2016 they remodeled the store again they kept the same coolers and exterior but repainted the whole store added all new signs, shelves, and rearranged the layout of the store. Why they felt the need to dump so much money into a store that was only 4 years old I'm not sure but as far as the interior goes none of the stores in the area come even remotely close to looking as good as the inside of aldi.

[giantsfan2016]

They have yet to start building the one in Southington, CT. The last few months they've been working the land, putting in pipes, etc. This is going to be a part of a development including Chipotle and Chick Fil A. Now the owner of this developement is looking at redeveloping the adjacent former 7-Eleven and 2 houses (the last 2 on Queen Street) that he owns next to the former 7-Eleven.

As of June 18th, 2017 they have some of the steel frame up for Aldi. I don't have a camera at the moment, so no pictures of the site. Sorry. Dead Batteries. No Job. No Money. And my phone takes s h i t t y pictures.

[shore72]

We'd been wanting to check an Aldi out for years (a cousin in KY always bragged about them). Since a couple have opened up locally we stopped in last weekend. No thanks. To me it was just an ever so slightly more upscale Save A Lot, complete with long lines, surly help, poor selection. Hard to find anything. It seems to be popular with the type of people who think Wal*Mart is overpriced.

[giantsfan2016]

I haven't been to Aldi in years, so I have yet to see the newly remodeled and expanded look of their Bristol, CT store. Part of that is because I haven't had a car in 2 years. The other part is that like me my Mom doesn't like Aldi either. She was in the newly remodeled and expanded Bristol store a couple months back only because she was out with her friend and her friend wanted to stop in.

Construction on the Southington store continues chugging along. Someone I know told me they hope to open in late September/early October. It's across from ShopRite. I really don't think it will have much of an impact on ShopRite.

[giantsfan2016]

An article on the Meriden-Record Journal's website confirms the late September/early October opening date for Aldi in Southington in an article about the progress of the new complex which will also include a Chick Fil A, a Chipotle, and yet another Urgent Care Center.