You're free to hate them, although I personally choose not to hate anything in my life. Life's just too short for that. My "Then why go there?" was a response t

You're free to hate them, although I personally choose not to hate anything in my life. Life's just too short for that. My "Then why go there?" was a response to your "I get depressed just being there", not to your hate. Indeed, Albert Heijn has great shops. The have a much greater variety in their products across the board, stock more luxury/expensive items (that Aldi/Lidl simply don't sell) and likely have a higher margin on these to cover for the additional costs of a more luxurious shopping experience and additional services (their free magazines, online shopping platform, apps with recipes, parcel pickup service from bol.com). BTW, Albert Heijn is still the largest chain of supermarkets in NL, but Jumbo is catching up quickly. You should try them, once you visit NL again.