Shopping at ALDI: What They Have, How to Shop There and Why I Love It

I was provided a trip to the ALDI headquarters in Batavia, IL.  All travel and accommodations were provided by ALDI.  This is a sponsored post, but all opinions are my own.

As most of you know {since I had been shouting it from the rooftops}, I was invited to the ALDI Headquarters in Chicago in April. I felt honored and privileged to attend this blogger event {we are all pictured above}. As a long time ALDI shopper, I was intrigued to know their back story and see, up front and personal, how their store really works.

I'm not going to lie. They took very good care of us. From the flight there, to the travel to and from the hotel, to filling our bellies with delicious food, it was pretty much a vacation for me. I love my family to death, but it sure was nice to have a night away to myself! I won't bore you with the details but it did involve a scenic room view of the Fox River, turn down service that included a cozy robe, slippers, cookies and milk and care packages that lasted me through the headaches of travel. The people of ALDI really know how to treat a blogger like royalty.

But back to the purpose I was really there. To learn more about ALDI! And to give all of that information back to you.

Today I'm going to speak about what YOU all see. The store! ALDI gave us a grand tour of their store in Geneva, Illinois. This store was very similar to mine, as far as set-up and appearance, so from the start I felt very comfortable. 

And that is just one thing they do – they keep all their stores, for the most part, in the same set up, so if you visit one and then a different one a week later they look the same. They also house their warehouse in the same way. The aisles there mimic the aisles in the store. Everything is kept in the same order from distribution to your store aisles. This reduces time wasted on moving items from aisle to aisle and trying to figure out where in the store it is housed.

In case you've been living under a rock, ALDI takes great pride in their low price, high quality items. As this photo says, “We don't match other stores' prices because that would mean raising ours.”

There are many ways ALDI saves money, in order to keep giving us low prices. Things that other big boxed stores just do not do.

• They do not provide plastic sacks, nor do they provide people to sack your groceries for you. The cashier will scan your items and then place them back in your cart. You then pack your groceries on a long table, using your own bags or boxes that you find off the store shelves.
• When you arrive you put a quarter in a line of grocery carts, it releases one and you are off to shop. When finished shopping you push your cart back into the line, lock it up and it releases your quarter back to you. This saves on hiring a person to corral carts all day long.
• Products are taken off the truck and placed directly on the shelves in open-faced boxes or packaging. No one is hired to “face” the shelves.
• Items have multiple bar codes on the bags/boxes, allowing the cashier to scan the product quickly. No need to look for the bar code or type it in if the packaging is crushed.
• ALDI designs their own packaging, in house, therefore eliminating the “middle man” {usually an ad agency} to make their product visually stimulating.
• You will find just a few employees in their stores – a couple cashiers and a store manager.

While in Chicago, we did a lot of blind product taste testing {which I'll talk about in another post}, but the short version is this. Their stuff is good! Many of us could not tell the difference between an ALDI product vs. a national brand. And most times we liked the ALDI product better! Because of this ALDI has gotten a huge cult following.

Here are some of the reasons.

• ALDI is committed to removing certified synthetic colors, trans fat, and MSG from all ALDI exclusive brand foods and more than 125 ingredients from SimplyNature products by the end of 2015.
• Over the next five years, ALDI plans to unveil 650 new stores across the country, including expanding to Southern California, bringing its total number of stores in the US to nearly 2,000 by 2018.
• They will continue to bring “Special Buys” into the stores. These items are a test product to see if buyers are interested. Many of these items become so popular they become permanent staples {think the Simply Organic brand and other gluten free brands}.
• They provide a Double Guarantee. They replace the product AND refund your money.
• Did I mention their ridiculously low prices?

In ALDI stores, as previously mentioned, they keep the set up the same. When you walk in you are immediately hit with crackers, chips, chocolate and alcohol.

I could probably live on those alone.

The middle aisles are kept for seasonal items {right now it's gardening}, canned goods, bakery items {the best!}, cleaning products, household items and other drinks {juice, soda, etc.} Produce, dairy, meat and frozen items flank the outside aisles of the store.

I want to mention some of my favorite go-to items in ALDI. How about coconut oil for $4.99? Cereal for $1.69? Ready made HUGE pizzas for $4.99? Organic frozen blueberries for $2.99? All of these are great buys. The prices cannot be matched anywhere.

And goat cheese {$1.99}! Did you know they have a huge selection of speciality cheeses? We buy pounds and pounds of string cheese and block cheese every two weeks. We like our dairy. And for those that have asked they do have organic milk {we buy that too}.

Their organic section is growing daily, I feel like every time I go, there is a new product. We often feast on their organic avocados {$3.99 for a bag}, carrots {99 cents}, bananas {69 cents/lb.} and grass fed beef {$6.99/lb.}. ALDI did not say this, but I honestly feel like the whole store will be organic someday.

Another favorite product is their BACON. Their new Never Any! brand is vegetarian raised and antibotic and preservative free. I would probably cook with bacon for every meal if my hips allowed it.

Shopping at ALDI does take some getting used to. Walking in the first time will be a bit confusing. It looks a bit different and you will need time to start recognizing their products, but trust me, one day it will all “click” and you'll be back again and again.

And you know what? It is not as overwhelming. Take a trip to your local grocery store. Go to the condiment aisle. Cruise the mustards. How many are there to choose from? 15? 20? At ALDI there is one, maybe two or three. Your mind will not have to go back and forth, trying to pick the one you need, plus do different price variations. You simply grab your mustard and move on.

Shopping at ALDI will save you time. Once you get a handle on where and what you like purchasing there, you'll be in and out in a snap {and the cashiers, move SUPER fast, it is pretty neat to watch}.

And lastly, you know what else? I love getting behind a store that loves it employees. Since their inception in the 1970's they have been paying their employees well above minimum wage. They also offer all full-time and PART-TIME employees full benefits.

As we were finishing up our tour that day and mingling by the door waiting for our shuttle, a store employee came over to us and asked if he could say something to the group.

He said, “I just want to thank you for coming here today and for what you guys do, because of that I have the best job.”

I almost teared up. He was so grateful for his job. You could tell he absolutely loved what he did, day in and day out. Why can't we all be that way? Just happy to HAVE a job? And even better, one that we love?

He ended our day on the brightest of bright notes.

I'll end with this. If you haven't been to ALDI yet, just go. Give it a whirl. Still on the fence, give it another try. It will takes a few trips to get the hang of it. And then one day it will click and you'll never turn back.

Stay tuned to Part II of my ALDI trip, where I'll focus on our product testing day, which also included guest speakers and so much more!

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I was provided a trip to the ALDI headquarters in Batavia, IL. All travel and accommodations were provided by ALDI. This is a sponsored post, but all opinions are my own.