About Aldi’s – a guide for Newbies

If you aren’t familiar with Aldi, you’re missing out! It’s a great, no frills shopping experience with terrific prices on produce and dairy.

Aldi is actually the largest grocery store chain in Germany, led by two brothers who have an amicable working relationship. They have now branched out to the US — one brother has Aldi’s and the other brother has Trader Joes!

Now, you will definitely notice the Europe influence at Aldi’s and they work hard to keep expenses low. A few tips if you are a newbie:

bring a quarter – you will need one if you want to use a cart. They are set up with a locking system so that you have to put a quarter in to get one. When you return your cart, you get the quarter back. Most people don’t want to lose their quarter, so that means no carts cluttering the parking lot! The Germans are so efficient.

• You can not use coupons at Aldi’s. Most of their products are a store brand, but even for the name brand products they have a “no coupon” policy. So you can leave your calculator in the car.

• bring your own bags (unless you want to purchase some for your groceries, but that defeats the whole “money saving strategy thing” we’re working on here). You could also take some boxes off the shelves to use.

• no credit cards — debit, cash or check only. (Yeah, right up my alley!)

• you pack your own groceries after you pay. There is a counter set up for you to do this and it’s a fun, communal dynamic.

• if you ever have any problems you can take advantage of Aldi’s DOUBLE GUARANTEEE – If for any reason, you are not 100% satisfied with any product, they will replace the product AND refund your money. Simply return the item to your nearest store. (Note that Non-Food Special Purchase items and alcohol are not included).

• Be prepared to be thrilled with the prices and quality of the produce. Much better than you would expect from a discount grocery.

If you would like see if there is a store near you, or learn about other special purchases click for Aldi’s website

Special Purchase prices start at different times across the country. Most stores will have these prices on Sundays, but as you can see from the map below, some stores will be delayed until Wednesday or Thursday of this week. Therefore, plan your trip accordingly!