PHOTO GALLERY: Aldi Foods Opens in New Lenox

Just in time for Thanksgiving, a new store is bringing discounted grocery shopping to New Lenox.

The store officially opens today, Nov. 18, at 351 E. Route 30. Shoppers were invited to sample some Aldi products against their more expensive counterparts Thursday.

"We challenge customers to switch and save," Aldi vice president Heather Moore said. "The price gets people in the door but the quality gets them back. It's as good or better than the national brands."

The 17,886-square-foot store is in the northwest corner of the New Lenox Town Center, where anchors the developing area. Aldi originally had plans to move into the same spot but pulled out in 2008 because of economic concerns.

Before this store's opening, the nearest Aldi to New Lenox is one located . There's also an Aldi in Lockport, Joliet, Homer Glen and Orland Hills. All locations are open 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays.

Many readers and shoppers said they were excited to have an Aldi closer to home. Now there are two stores in New Lenox, as well as a and grocery options at Walmart and .

"I'm glad New Lenox is growing. We didn't have any options before, but now we do," resident Mike Buell said during the consumer sampling.

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Aldi claims to offer much lower prices, up to 50 percent less, and set up comparisons in the new store to prove it. A walk through other New Lenox grocery stores showed that many of the typical items (bread, milk, eggs) are less money, though there's less of an overall variety of food.

How are they able to do this? Part if it is not having brand names, but most savings come on the operational side and are passed on to the customers.

For example, only 12 employees will work at the New Lenox Aldi, and they won't have to waste time running down shopping carts (Aldi has a 25-cent deposit system where you can get your quarter back after returning the cart). They also carry only about 1,400 items of the most-used grocery and household items. Their hours, Moore said, are also limited to the "prime shopping times."