3 ms·

“The poors” was said sarcastically.

by linkmotif 9y ago

tptacek 9y ago
I get that, but I think you can see my criticism of your comment is substantive, not just sniping your choice of words.
- linkmotif 9y ago
  Just making sure. > I'm sure the demographics of Aldi customers is sharply lower-income than that of Whole Foods, but I dispute the idea that Aldi gets to play the standard-bearer of the working class. Well sure, if you're in a food desert with nothing, then yes, Aldi would be amazing. But as you write, Aldis are usually in places where there are other options, and in those places, yes, they attract the poorer crowd and yes they are the standard-bearer of the working class. That's been my non-empirical experience anyway. They also attract people who are tired of being ripped off for commodity conventional food.
  - tptacek 9y ago
    What I'm saying is that in the part of Chicago I live in, low-income people don't shop at Aldi as much as they shop at Mexican supermarkets, Save-a-Lot, and Wal-Mart. Those places have in a lot of ways the opposite design as Aldi: lots of produce, few house brands, no satisficing sops to more upscale shoppers, like secretly excellent cheap olive oil. So my general point would be: you can't make a classist argument against critiques of Aldi without accounting for the fact that other inexpensive grocers don't follow Aldi's model either.
    - linkmotif 9y ago
      well I was saying this article was classist. I don’t see how other grocery models relate to this. The article was classist in the sense that it didn’t even seem to understand the nuances you’re describing. It just reduced Aldi to some 2nd world shopping experience (see my quotes for examples). Anyway if you’re talking about Mexican groceries that focus on produce and meat we are already talking about apples and oranges with respect to Aldi because people shop at those places not just for price considerations but because that’s what they culturally want. As an immigrant myself I can say that arriving in the US it was bewildering and strange that people bought everything in a paper box that was just add water or microwave. Very alien and unsettling. None of that stuff is, you know, food. I feel like immigrants set up those kinds of stores because they want places to buy /food/.
      - tptacek 9y ago
        I don't think you've adequately supported your argument that this article is classist. The popularity of grocery stores that "adhere to US norms" among lower-income shoppers would seem to refute that argument.

“The poors” was said sarcastically.

tptacek 9y ago

I get that, but I think you can see my criticism of your comment is substantive, not just sniping your choice of words.

linkmotif 9y ago
Just making sure. > I'm sure the demographics of Aldi customers is sharply lower-income than that of Whole Foods, but I dispute the idea that Aldi gets to play the standard-bearer of the working class. Well sure, if you're in a food desert with nothing, then yes, Aldi would be amazing. But as you write, Aldis are usually in places where there are other options, and in those places, yes, they attract the poorer crowd and yes they are the standard-bearer of the working class. That's been my non-empirical experience anyway. They also attract people who are tired of being ripped off for commodity conventional food.
- tptacek 9y ago
  What I'm saying is that in the part of Chicago I live in, low-income people don't shop at Aldi as much as they shop at Mexican supermarkets, Save-a-Lot, and Wal-Mart. Those places have in a lot of ways the opposite design as Aldi: lots of produce, few house brands, no satisficing sops to more upscale shoppers, like secretly excellent cheap olive oil. So my general point would be: you can't make a classist argument against critiques of Aldi without accounting for the fact that other inexpensive grocers don't follow Aldi's model either.
  - linkmotif 9y ago
    well I was saying this article was classist. I don’t see how other grocery models relate to this. The article was classist in the sense that it didn’t even seem to understand the nuances you’re describing. It just reduced Aldi to some 2nd world shopping experience (see my quotes for examples). Anyway if you’re talking about Mexican groceries that focus on produce and meat we are already talking about apples and oranges with respect to Aldi because people shop at those places not just for price considerations but because that’s what they culturally want. As an immigrant myself I can say that arriving in the US it was bewildering and strange that people bought everything in a paper box that was just add water or microwave. Very alien and unsettling. None of that stuff is, you know, food. I feel like immigrants set up those kinds of stores because they want places to buy /food/.
    - tptacek 9y ago
      I don't think you've adequately supported your argument that this article is classist. The popularity of grocery stores that "adhere to US norms" among lower-income shoppers would seem to refute that argument.