What You Need to Know About Shopping at ALDI Grocery Stores

ALDI grocery store is busy making preparations to open three grocery stores in Alexandria, with stores opening at Seminary Plaza at the former Magruder’s spot, on Duke Street at the former Mango Mike’s location and in Del Ray, in the spot where a Giant store was located until it recently closed.

The Seminary Plaza store will be the first to open, although no opening date has been announced. Teel Construction has been busy with its $600,000 renovation of the former Magruder’s location and had temporary storm protection in place this past week.

When the stores do open, here are some tips for shopping at what some call ”the Wal-Mart of Europe.” This information comes from savvy shoppers, various grocery store blogs and from the company itself:

• Natural: ALDI has committed to removing certified synthetic colors, partially hydrogenated oils (a source of trans fats) and added MSG from all of its exclusive brand food products. Read up on more of its push on that front here.
• Bring quarters: In order to use a shopping cart, you’ll need to pay with a quarter. Once you return the cart, you’ll get your quarter back. ALDI notes this helps to keep prices low because they don’t spend time retrieving carts. (Each store typically has just three to five employees working at a time.)
• Leave the credit cards at home: ALDI says they save money by not processing credit cards. By only accepting cash, debit and EBT cards, it helps keep their prices low. They also do not accept checks.
• BYOB: Bring your own bags or be prepared to buy ALDI’s reusable bags ($1.99); ALDI also charges 10 cents for plastic bags or 6 cents for paper sacks, according to the I Am That Lady blog. Also be prepared to bag your own groceries.
• Brands: Don’t look for big brand names at ALDI; 90 percent of the items in the store are ALDI brands. Private brand selections at ALDI include gluten-free (Live g-Free); “free-from” pure foods (Simply Nature); premium specialty (Specially Selected); and better-for-you items (Fit & Active), according to Supermarket News.
• Organic produce: Along with increasing its selections of fresh foods, the store has rolled out organic produce in all stores last year, according to Supermarket News.
• Double-guarantee: If, for any reason, you are not 100 percent satisfied with any product, ALDI will offer a Double Guarantee where they will replace the product and refund your money. (The Double Guarantee does not apply to non-food Special Buy items, alcohol, national brands and non-quality related issues.)
• Multiple bar codes: ALDI adds several bar codes to a product so that cashiers can check customers out faster, according to Peanut Butter Runner blog.
• No coupons: The store does not accept coupons; again the company says by doing this, they save money and they say they pass those savings along to their customers.
• No music: Another way the store saves? By not playing any music in its store and not paying music licensing fees.
• Hours: The stores are not open 24-7; most are open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. weekdays, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sundays. A typical ALDI store stays open during the most popular shopping hours, according to the ALDI Web site. ”Staying open later would simply add labor costs – and raise our prices,” they note.
• No banks or pharmacies at ALDI stores.