ALDI Discount Grocery Opens on Atlanta Highway

Angela Irvin spent about 20 minutes on a bus, heading out the Atlanta Highway to . She then waited in a line of customers--she was at the head--for almost half an hour before the place opened.

"I'm really excited about it being in Athens," she said. "I mainly shop at Wal Mart, and this gives me another option."

Officials are hoping the 18,000-square-foot store does give consumers another option, said public relations manager Fernando Soto. He was one of several ALDI officials on hand Thursday for the grand opening.

Prevalent in Europe, ALDI favors smaller grocery stories, with fewer employees, its own private label on products and a unique way of moving merchandise. Instead of displaying goods on shelves, and spending time straightening and arranging them, ALDI employees stack items in lightweight cardboard cartons.

"It's more efficient to pull an empty box than to spend time with shelving," Soto said.

Thursday morning, after store manager Lori Ford cut the ribbon to the store, shoppers moved in, fanning out through the aisles.

Sandra Grimes, a 40-something from Culbert, said her family is expecting company this weekend, and because she has the day off, "I thought I'd try a new store. Prices seem good, and I can say I'll be back."

For Hildegard Wooten, a native of the former Berlin, shopping at ALDI is a familiar experience. As a child growing up in Germany, her family routinely shopped at ALDI, "50 years ago," she said. "Everything was cheaper, coffee, bread. Look around here today, everything is nice and clean, too."