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I don't, and likely never will, understand why anyone would want go to chains like Aldi, Lidl, Shoppers etc. to shop unless they had no choice. These are the mo
by atombender 8y ago
I don't, and likely never will, understand why anyone would want go to chains like Aldi, Lidl, Shoppers etc. to shop unless they had no choice. These are the most depressing supermarkets in the world. I can understand low cost, but why do the stores need to look and feel like you've been transported back to Cold War-era Soviet Russia?
I will also never understand, I suspect, the austere attitude in Germany to supermarkets. I've only ever lived in Berlin, but I longed for a Whole Foods or at least a Trader Joe's while I was there -- Aldi, Lidl, Rewe, Edeka, they're all super depressing. Berlin has a decent selection of "bio" supermarkets, fortunately, but their selection is also frustratingly limited, and the slight increase in quality isn't really worth the increase in price.
The US has plenty of terrible supermarkets, too, but they're often depressing for another reason; despite a much bigger selection, they devote an enormous amount of shelf space to disastrously unhealthy food and candy. (And then there's the bread. Very difficult to find good, freshly baked bread in the US that isn't plain white.)
- scrollaway 8y ago> I don't, and likely never will, understand… Well, I don't understand why someone would make their groceries (a major portion of monthly spendings) 2-6x more expensive just because the shopping experience is less "fun". Personally, groceries are a chore no matter where I shop. All in all I just shop wherever convenient. I live next to a Lidl right now so I shop there, and my only annoyance with it is that they don't have that much stuff (not in terms of brand choices but in terms of items altogether).
- atombender 8y agoYou misunderstood my comment. I do much of my shopping at a local low-cost chain, but it's nowhere near as depressing as the ones I mentioned. That said, being a low-cost chain, I have to make trips to several other supermarkets to completely cover my grocery needs during the week, which is frustrating.
- learc83 8y agoLidl just opened several stores in my area (metro Atlanta) and they are all modern, fairly nice looking buildings with big glass facades [1]. The insides are decent too and the bakery is much better than any of the other grocery stores around here. 1. https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=en&pb=!1s0x88f53d4a23219279%3A0x731c65102b4eb46b!2m22!2m2!1i80!2i80!3m1!2i20!16m16!1b1!2m2!1m1!1e1!2m2!1m1!1e3!2m2!1m1!1e5!2m2!1m1!1e4!2m2!1m1!1e6!3m1!7e115!4s%2Fmaps%2Fplace%2Flidl%2Bpowder%2Bsprings%2F%4033.8675521%2C-84.629123%2C3a%2C75y%2C29.51h%2C90t%2Fdata%3D*213m4*211e1*213m2*211st2HBWZcnhINWiE2Qwmo3YA*212e0*214m2*213m1*211s0x88f53d4a23219279%3A0x731c65102b4eb46b!5slidl%20powder%20springs%20-%20Google%20Search&imagekey=!1e10!2sAF1QipOC4QeCtzGmCNeeXTFK9pux6eF_ZEAr5mw3Llg0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjdrtGH4PvgAhVKm-AKHeF5BM0Qpx8wFXoECAEQCw https://www.google.com/maps/uv?hl=en&pb=!1s0x88f53d4a2321927...
- pard68 8y agoAre you aware Trader Joe and Aldi are sister companies and owned by two German brothers? In fact, the Trader Joe parent company is called Aldi[^1]! [^1]: not the same Aldi though. There is an Aldi North and an Aldi South. Aldi North owns Trader Joe (American name only, globally Aldi North chains are also just Aldi). And Aldi South owns the Aldi stores in the USA.
- atombender 8y agoI know, but they're completely different stores in terms of design, inventory and pretty much everything else. I'd happily shop at Trader Joe's if there were one near me.
- pard68 8y agoOh agreed! Just meant not all German stores are so dour.
- colechristensen 8y agoTrader Joe's is an Aldi subsidiary. Two brothers split their inherited Aldi company into two, Aldi North and Aldi South (or Nord and Sud) and split territories, both operating in Germany and each getting a selection of countries to operate in. Both operate in the US, Aldi Sud as Aldi and Aldi Nord as Trader Joe's. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldi
- atombender 8y agoYou're the second person to point this out, but I don't see how company ownership is relevant. Aldi and Trader Joe's are completely different stores in terms of design, inventory and pretty much everything else — they're a world apart.
- flukus 8y ago> I can understand low cost, but why do the stores need to look and feel like you've been transported back to Cold War-era Soviet Russia? The alternative tends to be cheap and somewhat tacky/fake, which I find worse because it's still cheap but they're trying to mislead you into thinking otherwise. I'll take honest austerity any day. I'm sure cheap and nice are possible but it's not what I tend to see at other stores.
- jgalt212 8y agoI concur. The first time I shopped at Aldi was the last time. Only stopped in because article in Economist said they were taking over the world. I left the place and informed my children to work hard so they don't have to shop at Aldi.
- collyw 8y agoPersonally when I moved back from living in Austria to living in the UK I could go to Lidl and it had the same products in the same place between countries. Its really annoying when normal supermarkets start shifting their products around and you need to spend 5 minutes looking for the new location.